600 CE - 1450
THIRD WAVE CIVILIZATIONS
"All mankind is of one author, and is one volume; when one man
dies, one chapter is not torn out of the book, but translated into
a better language; and every chapter must be so translated...As
therefore the bell that rings to a sermon, calls not upon the
preacher only, but upon the congregation to come: so this bell
calls us all: but how much more me, who am brought so near
the door by this sickness....No man is an island, entire of
itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in
mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell
tolls; it tolls for thee.“ ` John Donne
600 t0 1450
THIRD WAVE CIVILIZATIONS
THE QUESTION OF PER IODIZATION
Between about 200 and 850 C.E., many
classical states and civilizations were
disrupted, declined, or collapsed.
 Columbus’s transatlantic voyages around 1500
mark a new departure in world history.
 How should we understand the millennium that
stretches from the end of the classical era to
the beginning of modern world history?

PERIODIZATION
hard to define a distinct identity for this period
 Postclassical?
 Medieval or Middle Ages?
 Third-wave civilizations

 First
Civs: Egypt, Mesopotamia, China, Indus River
 2nd Wave
NEW STUFF

creation of new but smaller
civilizations where none had
existed before
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East African Swahili civilization
Kievan Rus
Japan, Korea, Vietnam
Srivijaya (Indonesia)
Angkor (Cambodia)
BLENDED STUFF

all part of the pattern of
increasing globalization of
civilization


new civilizations were
distinctive, but similar to
earlier civilizations
borrowed heavily from earlier
or more established centers
DIFFERING TRAJECTORIES
RADICAL CHANGE

the most expansive and
influential thirdwave
civilization was Islam
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

Defines the beginning of this
period
Political and economic system
a tool of religion
Instead of religion as a tool of
the political system
PERSISTENT STUFF

some older civilizations
persisted or were
reconstructed new
civilizations were distinctive,
but similar to earlier
civilizations

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Byzantium
China
India
Niger Valley
DIFFERING TRAJECTORIES
PERSISTENT STUFF

Western Europe: successor
states tried to maintain links
to older Greco-RomanChristian traditions



far more decentralized
societies emerged, led by
Germans
hybrid civilization was created
of classical and Germanic
elements
development of highly
competitive states after 1000
PERSISTENT STUFF


collapse of classical Maya
civilization and Teotihuacán
opened the way to a
reshaping of an ancient
civilization
the Inca formed an empire
out of various centers of
Andean civilization
DIFFERING TRAJECTORIES
TRANSREGIONAL INTERACTION

The theme is the great increase in interaction
between the world’s regions, cultures, and
peoples.
 increasingly,
change was caused by contact with
strangers and/or their ideas, armies, goods, or
diseases
 cosmopolitan regions emerged in a variety of
places—“miniglobalizations”
ACCELERATING PACE OF INTERACTION
Trade
 Empire
 Interactions between the two

TRADE
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especially the growth of longdistance commerce
led to the establishment of
many new states or empires
(concentration of wealth)
religious ideas, technologies,
and germs moved along
trade routes
EMPIRE

large empires, incorporating
many distinct cultures under
a single political system
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provided security for longdistance trade
many of the third-wave
civilizations were larger than
earlier ones (Arab, Mongol, and
Inca empires)
largest empires were created
by nomadic or pastoral peoples
(Arabs, Turks, Mongols,
Aztecs), who ruled over
agriculturalists
KEY THEMATIC ELEMENTS
TRADE AND EMPIRE TOGETHER
spread of ideas, technologies, crops, and germs
 wide diffusion of religions
 wide diffusion of technologies, many from China
and India
 devastating epidemic disease (e.g., Black Death)
linked distant communities
 focus on accelerating connections puts a spotlight
on travelers rather than on those who stayed at
home.
 A focus on interaction raises questions for us
about how much choice individuals or societies
had in accepting new ideas or practices and about
how they made those decisions.

So where’s this dude taking us now?
THE THIRD WAVE WITH STRAYER
STRAYER 8 COMMERCE & CULTURE
EAST ASIAN CONNECTIONS

Reunified China:
 Sui,
Tang, Song
China & the Northern Nomads
 Coping with China:

 Korea,
Vietnam, Japan
China and the Eurasian Economy
 China and Buddhism

EUROPEAN CHRISTENDOM

The Byzantine state
Building on the Roman past
 Byzantine church
 Conversion of Russia

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Western Christendom
Decentralization
 Accelerating change after 1000
 Crusading tradition

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Catching up/Pluralism in Politics/Reason & Faith
ISLAM, AN EMPIRE OF FAITH
Birth of a new religion
 An Arab Empire
 Islam and cultural encounters

 India
 Anatolia
 West
Africa
 Spain

Networks of Faith/Networks of Exchange
THE MONGOL MOMENT
A long history of pastoral people
 Breakout from Central Asia
 Mongol Encounters

 China
 Persia
 Russia

Agents of Exchange
THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY
Cause and Effect, on the edge of change
 Variations of Communities
 China & Europe Compared
 Islam: Ottomans, Safavids, Songhay, Mughal
 Webs of Connections
