Regional Interactions
Japan
 Mountainous
Archipelago (chain of
islands)
 Four Main Islands
 Close to China and
Korea
 Sea of Japan or the East
Sea is between Japan
and the Asian
Mainland
Chinese Influence on Japan
 Writing
 Architecture
 Buddhism
Shinto
 Ethnic religion unique
to Japan
 Importance of natural
features, forces of
nature, and ancestors
 State religion; worship
of the emperor
 Coexistence with
Buddhism
African Kingdoms
 Axum (Aksum)
 Eastern Africa
 Location near the Red Sea and the
Nile River
 Located in modern day Ethiopia
 Only early African Kingdom that
practiced Christianity
West African Kingdoms
 Ghana, Mali, and
Songhai were all located
near the Niger River and
Sahara Desert
 Traded Gold and Salt
along the Trans-Saharan
trade routes
 Timbuktu was center of
learning
 Islamic
Zimbabwe
 Located between
the Limpopo and
the Zambezi Rivers
 City of “Great
Zimbabwe” was the
capital of a
prosperous empire
Mayan Civilization
 Mexican & Central American




Rain Forests
Chichen Itza – Major City
City States ruled by Kings
Polytheistic: Pyramids
Economy: Agriculture &
Tribute from conquered
people
Aztec Civilization
 Arid valley in central




Mexico
Tenochtitlan – Major city
Ruled by an emperor
Polytheistic: Rituals,
Pyramids
Economy: Agriculture,
Tributes from conquered
peoples
Meso-American Achievements
 Calendars
 Math
 Writing and other
record-keeping
systems
QUIPO
Rise of Nation States - England
 William the Conqueror
 Norman Conquest (French)
 Battle of Hastings
 Common Law started under
Henry II
 Magna Carta
 Signed by King John
 Limited King’s power
 Hundred Years’ War
 England vs. France
 Defined England as a Nation
 Evolution of Parliament
Rise of Nation States - France
 Hugh Capet
 Established French throne in Paris
 Expanded control over most of
France
 Hundred Years’ War
 Helped define France as a nation
 Joan of Arc
 Message from God
 Defeated English at Orleans
 Unifying factor for French
Rise of Nation States - Spain
 Ferdinand & Isabella
 “Reconquesta”
 Unified Spain
 Expelled the Moors and the
Jews
 Unified as a Catholic Nation
 Charles V
 Expanded the Spanish
Empire in the Western
Hemisphere
Rise of Nation States - Russia
 Ivan the Great
 Refused to pay tribute to the
Mongols
 Centralized power in Moscow
 Expanded the nation
 Power was centralized in the
hands of the tsar
 The Orthodox Church
influenced unification
Key events of the Crusdades
 Pope Urban’s Speech
 Call to arms
 Promised Salvation
 Capture of Jerusalem
 Founding of Crusader
States
 Loss of Jerusalem to
Saladin
 Sack of Constantinople
by Western Crusaders
Effects of the Crusades
 Weakened the power of the Pope & Nobles
 Strengthened the Monarch
 Stimulated trade w/ the Middle East
 Demand for new goods
 Trade through Middle East and
Mediterranean Sea
 Legacy of bitterness between Jews, Christians,
and Muslims
 Weakened Byzantine Empire
The Mongols
 Invaded Russia, China,
and Muslim states in
Southwest
 Destroyed cities and
countrysides
 Created an Empire
Constantinople
 Fell to the Ottoman
Turks in 1453
 This ended the
Byzantine Empire
 Became the capital of the
Ottoman Empire
 Changed the name to
Istanbul
Impact of the Black Death
(Bubonic Plague)
 Population Decline
 Reduction in Labor
Force
 Towns freed from Feudal
Obligations
 Decline in Church
Influence
 Disruption of Trade
Renaissance in Italy
 Medieval Art & Literature
focused on the Church &
Salvation
 Renaissance Art & Literature
focused on individuals and
secular (worldly) matters,
along with Christianity
 Wealth of independent Italian
City States through trade
 Increase in Banking and Credit
Art & Literature in Italy
 Leonardo da Vinci


Mona Lisa
The Last Supper
 Michaelangelo


David
Ceiling of the Sisten Chapel
 Petrarch

Sonnets, humanist scholarship
Humanism
 Celebrated the
Individual
 Stimulated the study of
classical Greek and
Roman Literature and
Culture (Greco-Roman)
 Supported by wealthy
Patrons
The Northern Renaissance
 Growing wealth in
Northern Europe
supported Renaissance
ideas
 Merged Humanist Ideals
w/ Christianity
 Moveable type printing
press, productino and
Sales of Books spread ideas
and literacy
 Johan Gutenberg
 Gutenberg Bible
Northern Renaissance Writers
 Erasmus

The Praise of Folly (1511)
 Sir Thomas More

Utopia (1516)
 Northern Renaissance
artists portrayed both
religious and secular
(worldly) subjects