PART THREE
AN AGE OF ACCELERATING CONNECTIONS
600–1500
Chapter 8: Commerce and Culture, 500–1500
Chapter Objectives
• To consider the significance of trade in human history
• To explore the interconnections created by long-distance trade in the period of third-wave
civilizations
• To examine the full range of what was carried along trade routes (goods, culture, disease)
• To explore the differences between the commerce of the Eastern Hemisphere and that of the
Western Hemisphere and the reasons behind those differences
Chapter 9: China and the World: East Asian Connections, 500–1300
Chapter Objectives
• To explore the role of China as “superpower” among the third-wave civilizations
• To examine China’s deep influence on East Asia • To consider the ways in which interaction
with other peoples had an impact on China
• To encourage students to question modern assumptions about China
Chapter 10:The Worlds of European Christendom: Connected and Divided, 500–1300
Chapter Objectives
• To examine European society after the breakup of the Roman Empire
• To compare the diverse legacies of Rome in Western Europe and the Byzantine Empire
• To explore medieval European expansion
• To present the backwardness of medieval Europe relative to other civilizations, and the steps
by which it caught up
Chapter 11: The Worlds of Islam: Afro-Eurasian Connections, 600–1500
Chapter Objectives
• To examine the causes behind the spread of Islam
• To explore the dynamism of the Islamic world as the most influential of the third-wave civilizations
• To consider the religious divisions within Islam and how they affected political development
• To consider Islam as a source of cultural encounters with Christian, African, and Hindu cultures
• To increase student awareness of the accomplishments of the Islamic world in the period 600–1500 C.E.
Chapter 12—Pastoral Peoples on the Global Stage: The Mongol Moment, 1200–1500
Chapter Learning Objectives
•
•
•
•
To make students aware of the significance of pastoral societies in world history
To examine the conditions of nomadic life
To investigate the impact of the Mongol Empire on world history
To consider the implications of the Eurasian trade sponsored by the Mongols
Chapter 13—The Worlds of the Fifteenth Century
Chapter Learning Objectives
• To step back and consider the variety of human experience in the fifteenth century
• To compare conditions in China and Europe on the cusp of the modern world
• To encourage students to consider why Europe came to dominate the world in the modern era, and how
well this could have been predicted in 1500
• To examine the Islamic world in the fifteenth century
• To provide a preview of important trends to come in the modern world
1
Outline: The Big Picture: Defining a Millennium
I.
It is difficult to see when one phase of human history ends and another begins.
A. Between about 200 and 850 C.E., many classical states and
civilizations
were disrupted, declined, or collapsed.
B. Columbus’s transatlantic voyages around 1500 mark a new departure in
world history for most people.
C. How should we understand the millennium that stretches from the end of
the classical era to the beginning of modern world history?
1. it has proven hard to define a distinct identity for this period
a. some call it “postclassical,” but that term has little meaning
b. some call it “medieval,” but that term is Eurocentric and also suggests it was just a lead-in to
modernity
c. this textbook sometimes uses the phrase “third-wave civilizations”
II. Third-Wave Civilizations: Something New, Something Old, Something Blended
A. Various regions followed different trajectories in this era.
B. There were several distinct patterns of development:
1. some areas saw creation of new but smaller civilizations where none had existed before
a. East African Swahili civilization
b. Kievan Rus
c. new civilizations in East and Southeast Asia
2. all were part of the pattern of increasing globalization of civilization
a. the new civilizations were distinctive, but similar to earlier civilizations
b. all borrowed heavily from earlier or more established centers
3. the most expansive and influential thirdwave civilization was Islam
4. some older civilizations persisted or were reconstructed (e.g., Byzantium, China, India, Niger Valley)
a. collapse of classical Maya civilization and Teotihuacán opened the way to a reshaping of an
ancient civilization
b. the Inca formed an empire out of various centers of Andean civilization
5. Western Europe: successor states tried to maintain links to older Greco-Roman- Christian traditions
a. but far more decentralized societies emerged, led by Germans
b. hybrid civilization was created of classical and Germanic elements
c. development of highly competitive states after 1000 C.E.
III. The Ties That Bind: Transregional Interaction in the Postclassical Era
A. An important common theme is the great increase in interaction between
the world’s regions, cultures, and peoples.
1. increasingly, change was caused by contact with strangers and/or their ideas, armies, goods, or
diseases
2. cosmopolitan regions emerged in a variety of places—“miniglobalizations”
B. Part Three highlights the accelerating pace of interaction in the thirdwave era, giving special attention to three major mechanisms of
interaction:
1. trade, especially the growth of long-distance commerce
a. trade led to the establishment of many new states or empires
2
b. religious ideas, technologies, and germs also moved along trade routes
2. large empires, incorporating many distinct cultures under a single political system
a. provided security for long-distance trade
b. many of the third-wave civilizations were larger than earlier ones (Arab, Mongol, and Inca
empires)
c. the largest empires were created by nomadic or pastoral peoples (Arabs, Turks, Mongols, Aztecs),
who ruled over agriculturalists
3. large-scale empires and long-distance trade worked together to facilitate the spread of ideas,
technologies, crops, and germs
a. wide diffusion of religions
b. wide diffusion of technologies, many from China and India
c. devastating epidemic disease (e.g., Black Death) linked distant communities
C. A focus on accelerating connections puts a spotlight on travelers rather than on those who
stayed at home.
D. A focus on interaction raises questions for world historians about how much choice
individuals or societies had in accepting new ideas or practices and about how they made
those decisions.
Chapter 8 Outline
I.
Opening Vignette
A. Modern highways are being built across Africa and Asia.
1. part of modern process of globalization
2. but also evoke older patterns of global commerce
B. The roots of economic globalization lie deep in the past.
1. exchange of goods between people of different ecological zones is a major feature of human history
2. at times, some societies have monopolized desirable products (like silk)
3. long-distance trade became more important than ever in 500–1500 C.E.
a. most trade was indirect
b. creation of a network of communication and exchange across the Afro-Eurasian world; a separate
web in parts of the Americas
C. Why was trade significant?
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
altered consumption
encouraged specialization
diminished economic self-sufficiency of local societies
traders often became a distinct social group
sometimes was a means of social mobility
provided prestige goods for elites
sometimes the wealth from trade motivated state creation
religious ideas, technological innovations, plants and animals, and disease also spread along trade
routes
D. The network of long-distance commerce is a notable feature of the thirdwave civilizations.
II. Silk Roads: Exchange across Eurasia
A. The Growth of the Silk Roads
3
1. Eurasia is often divided into inner and outer zones with different ecologies
a. outer Eurasia: relatively warm, well-watered (China, India, Middle East, Mediterranean)
b. inner Eurasia: harsher, drier climate, much of it pastoral (eastern Russia, Central Asia)
c. steppe products were exchanged for agricultural products and manufactured goods
2. creation of classical civilizations and imperial states in 500–0 B.C.E. included efforts to control
pastoral peoples
3. trading networks did best when large states provided security for trade
a. when Roman and Chinese empires anchored commerce
b. in seventh and eighth centuries, the Byzantine Empire, Abbasid dynasty, and Tang dynasty
created a belt of strong states
c. in thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, Mongol Empire controlled almost the entirety of the Silk
Roads
B. Goods in Transit
1. a vast array of goods traveled along the Silk Roads, often by camel
a. mostly luxury goods for the elite
b. high cost of transport did not allow movement of staple goods
2. silk symbolized the Eurasian exchange system
a. at first, China had a monopoly on silk technology
b. by the sixth century C.E., other peoples produced silk
c. silk was used as currency in Central Asia
d. silk was a symbol of high status
e. silk industry only developed in Western Europe in twelfth century
3. volume of trade was small, but of economic and social importance
a. peasants in the Yangzi River delta of southern China produced market goods (silk, paper, porcelain, etc.)
instead of crops
b. well-placed individuals could make enormous profits
C. Cultures in Transit
1. cultural transmission was more important than exchange of goods
2. the case of Buddhism
a. spread along Silk Roads through Central and East Asia
b. had always appealed to merchants
c. conversion was heavy in the oasis cities of Central Asia
d. conversion was voluntary
e. many of the Central Asian cities became centers of learning and commerce
i. e.g., Buddhist texts and cave temples of Dunhuang
f. spread much more slowly among Central Asian pastoralists
g. in China, was the religion of foreign merchants or rulers for centuries
h. Buddhism was transformed during its spread
D. Disease in Transit
1. the major population centers of the Afro-Eurasian world developed characteristic disease patterns and
ways to deal with them
2. long-distance trade meant exposure to unfamiliar diseases
a. early case: great epidemic in Athens in 430–429 B.C.E.
b. during the Roman and Han empires, smallpox and measles devastated both populations
c. in 534–750 C.E., bubonic plague from India ravaged Mediterranean world
4
3. the Black Death spread thanks to the Mongol Empire’s unification of much of Eurasia (thirteenth–
fourteenth centuries)
a. could have been bubonic plague, anthrax, or collection of epidemic diseases
b. killed one-third of European population between 1346 and 1350
c. similar death toll in China and parts of the Islamic world
d. Central Asian steppes were badly affected (undermined Mongol power)
4. disease exchange gave Europeans an advantage when they reached the Western Hemisphere after
1500
III. Sea Roads: Exchange across the Indian Ocean
A. The Mediterranean Sea was an avenue for commerce from the time of the
Phoenicians.
1. Venice was a center of commerce by 1000 C.E.
2. controlled trade of imports from Asia
3. linked Europe to the much greater trade network of the Indian Ocean
B. The Indian Ocean network was the world’s most important until after
1500.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
trade grew from environmental and cultural diversity
transportation was cheaper by sea than by land
made transportation of bulk goods possible (textiles, pepper, timber, rice, sugar, wheat)
commerce was possible thanks to monsoons (alternating wind currents)
commerce was between towns, not states
C. Weaving the Web of an Indian Ocean World
1. Indian Ocean trade started in the age of the First Civilizations
a. Indus Valley writing may have been stimulated by cuneiform
b. ancient Egyptians and Phoenicians traded down the Red Sea
c. Malay sailors reached Madagascar in the first millennium B.C.E.
2. tempo of commerce increased in early centuries C.E. with greater understanding of monsoons
a. merchants from Roman Empire settled in southern India and East African coast
b. growing trade in eastern Indian Ocean and South China Sea
3. fulcrum of trade was India
4. two great encouragers for the Indian Ocean exchange:
a. economic and political revival of China
b. rise of Islam in seventh century C.E.
D. Sea Roads as a Catalyst for Change: Southeast Asia and Srivijaya
1. ocean commerce transformed Southeast Asia and East Africa
a. trade stimulated political change
b. introduction of foreign religious ideas
2. Southeast Asia: location between China and India made it important
a. Malay sailors opened an all-sea route between India and China through the Straits of Malacca ca.
350 C.E.
b. led many small ports to compete to attract traders
3. Malay kingdom of Srivijaya emerged from competition, dominated trade from 670 to 1025 C.E.
a. gold, access to spices, and taxes on ships provided resources to create a state
b. local belief: chiefs possessed magical powers
c. also used Indian political ideas and Buddhism
5
4. Sailendras kingdom (central Java) was also influenced by India
a. massive building of Hindu and Buddhist centers (eighth–tenth centuries)
b. shows Buddhist cultural grounding in Javanese custom
5. Burma, the Khmer state of Angkor, etc. also show Indian culture
6. Islam penetrated later
E. Sea Roads as a Catalyst for Change: East Africa and Swahili Civilization
1. Swahili civilization of East Africa developed from blend of Bantu with commercial life of the Indian
Ocean (especially Islamic)
a. growing demand for East African products (gold, ivory, quartz, leopard skins, some slaves, iron,
wood products)
b. African merchant class developed, with towns and kingships
2. Swahili civilization flourished on East African coast between 1000 and 1500 C.E.
a. very urban, with cities of 15,000–18,000 people
b. each city was politically independent, ruled by a king
c. accumulated goods from the interior and traded for Asian goods
d. sharp class distinctions
3. most of trade was in Arab ships; Swahili craft traveled coastal waterways
4. deep participation in the Indian Ocean world
a. regular visits by Arab and Indian (perhaps Persian) merchants; some settled
b. many ruling families claimed Arab or Persian origins
c. Swahili was written in Arabic script, with Arabic loan words
d. widespread conversion to Islam
5. Islam and Swahili culture didn’t reach much beyond coast until the nineteenth century
a. but Swahili region traded with the interior, had an impact
b. trade with interior for gold led to emergence of Great Zimbabwe (flourished in 1250–1350 C.E.)
IV. Sand Roads: Exchange across the Sahara
A. Commercial Beginnings in West Africa
1. trans-African trade was also based on environmental variation
a. North Africa manufactured goods
b. Sahara had copper and salt deposits, dates
c. agricultural peoples further south grew crops, mined gold
2. earliest trade in the region was among agricultural peoples in the Sudan
a. emergence of urban clusters in the early centuries C.E.
b. most famous was Jenne-jeno (Niger Valley civilization)
B. Gold, Salt, and Slaves: Trade and Empire in West Africa
1. introduction of the camel in early centuries C.E. was a turning point
a. camels can go 10 days without water
b. made it possible to cross the Sahara
2. regular trans-Saharan commerce by 300–400 C.E.
3. merchants especially wanted gold from West Africa (along with ivory, kola nuts, slaves)
4. the Sahara became a major international trade route
a. huge caravans (as many as 5,000 camels)
b. caravans traveled the desert for over 1,000 years
5. trade encouraged new and larger political structures
6
a. creation of a series of states in western and central Sudan between 500 and 1600 C.E., including Ghana,
Mali, Songhay, Kanem, and Hausa city-states
b. all were monarchies with elaborate court life and at least some administration and military forces
c. all had a reputation for great riches
6. slavery was present in West Africa
a. at first, most slaves were women
b. with development of civilization, male slaves were used as officials, porters, craftsmen, miners,
agricultural laborers
c. most slaves came from societies raided farther south
d. some 5,500 slaves a year came from across the Sahara between 1100 and 1400
7. substantial urban/commercial centers (such as Koumbi-Saleh, Jenne, Timbuktu)
a. some became manufacturing centers
b. Islam was established in towns
V. An American Network: Commerce and Connection in the Western Hemisphere
A. There was no sustained interaction between the Western and Eastern
hemispheres before the voyages of Columbus.
B. American trade networks were not as dense as Afro-Eurasian ones.
1. important limitations:
a. lack of domesticated large mammals, wheeled vehicles, large oceangoing ships
b. geographical or environmental obstacles, including north/south orientation
2. local and regional commerce flourished, but not long-distance trade
3. cultural traditions did not spread as widely as in Eastern Hemisphere
C. But there was a “loosely interactive web” from the Great Lakes to the
Andes.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
cultural elements spread gradually
evidence of at least indirect contact
Cahokia was at center of a widespread trading network
Chaco canyon culture also interacted with Mesoamerica
Amazon and Orinoco river exchange networks
Caribbean peoples conducted interisland trade
Chincha people traded along Pacific coast of South America
D. There was a major trade network in Mesoamerica.
1. Maya and Teotihuacán traded by land
2. Maya traded by sea on both coasts (with dugout canoes)
3. Aztecs of fifteenth century had professional merchants (pochteca)
E. There was a major trade network in the Andes.
VI. Reflections: Economic Globalization—Ancient and Modern
A. The interconnections of the modern era have their roots in much earlier
patterns.
B. But premodern networks had important differences:
1.
2.
3.
4.
most people still produced for their own consumption
a much smaller range of goods was exchanged
far fewer wageworkers
trade was in luxury goods
7
5. circuits of commerce were more limited
6. had no single center; units were much more equivalent
C. The world of third-wave civilizations was more balanced and
multicentered than that of the modern era.
1. relationships among major civilizations were much more equal
2. perhaps the twenty-first century is returning to that pattern
Key Terms
American web: A term used to describe the network of trade that linked parts of the pre-Columbian Americas;
although less intense and complete than the Afro-Eurasian trade networks, this web nonetheless provided a
means of exchange for luxury goods and ideas over large areas.
*Black Death: The name given to the massive epidemic that swept Eurasia in the fourteenth century C.E.; it
may have been bubonic plague, anthrax, or a collection of epidemic diseases.
Borobudur: The largest Buddhist monument ever built, Borobudur is a mountainous ten-level monument with
an elaborate carving program, probably built in the ninth century C.E. by the Sailendras rulers of central
Java; it is an outstanding example of cultural exchange and syncretism. (pron. BORE-ahboo-DOOR)
*bubonic plague: A highly fatal disease transmitted by fleas; it devastated the Mediterranean world between
534 and 750 C.E. and again in the period 1346–1350 C.E.
*Ghana, Mali, Songhay: A series of important states that developed in western and central Sudan in the period
500–1600 C.E. in response to the economic opportunities of trans-Saharan trade (especially control of gold
production). (pron. GAH-nah, MAHlee, song-GAH-ee)
Great Zimbabwe: A powerful state in the African interior that apparently emerged from the growing trade in
gold to the East African coast; flourished between 1250 and 1350 C.E.
*Ibn Battuta: A famous Muslim traveler who visited much of the Islamic world in the fourteenth century and
wrote a major account of what he saw. (pron. ibn bat-TOOT-ah)
Indian Ocean trading network: The world’s largest sea-based system of communication and exchange before
1500 C.E., Indian Ocean commerce stretched from southern China to eastern Africa and included not only
the exchange of luxury and bulk goods but also the exchange of ideas and crops.
Jie people: A nomadic people who controlled much of northern China in the third and fourth centuries; many
converted to Buddhism. (pron. gee)
Malaysians: Speakers of Austronesian languages from what is now Indonesia who became major traders in
Southeast Asia and Madagascar.
*monsoons: Alternating wind currents that blew eastward across the Indian Ocean in the summer and westward
in the winter, facilitating trade.
oasis cities of Central Asia: Cities such as Merv, Samarkand, Khotan, and Dunhuang that became centers of
trans-Eurasian trade.
pochteca: Professional merchants among the Aztecs.
Sailendras: A kingdom of central Java that flourished from the eighth century to the tenth century C.E.; noted
for being deeply influenced by Indian culture. (pron. sigh-LEN-drahs)
Sand Roads: A term used to describe the routes of the trans-Sahara trade in Africa.
*Silk Roads: Land-based trade routes that linked Eurasia.
Srivijaya: A Malay kingdom that dominated the Straits of Malacca between 670 and 1025 C.E.; noted for its
creation of a native/Indian hybrid culture. (pron. sree-vih-JUH-yah)
Sudan: From the Arabic term for “land of black people,” a large region of West Africa that became part of a
major exchange circuit.
Swahili civilization: An East African civilization that emerged in the eighth century C.E. from a blending of
Bantu, Islamic, and other Indian Ocean trade elements. (pron. swah-HEE-lee)
third-wave civilizations: Civilizations that emerged between 500 and 1500 C.E. and were typified by
intensifying trade networks.
8
*trans-Saharan slave trade: A fairly small-scale trade that developed in the twelfth century C.E., exporting
West African slaves captured in raids across the Sahara for sale mostly as household servants in Islamic
North Africa; the difficulty of travel across the desert limited the scope of this trade.
Venice: An Italian city that by 1000 C.E. emerged as a major center of Mediterranean trade.
and encouraged peoples across the zone to specialize in producing particular products for sale rather than being
self-sufficient. The spread of ideas and diseases across large parts of the interacting zone provides evidence of
extensive and sustained contact across long distances.
Margin Review Questions
1. What lay behind the emergence of Silk Road commerce, and what kept it going for so many centuries?
2. What made silk such a highly desired commodity across Eurasia?
3. What were the major economic, social, and cultural consequences of Silk Road commerce?
4. What accounted for the spread of Buddhism along the Silk Roads?
5. What was the impact of disease along the Silk Roads?
6. How did the operation of the Indian Ocean trading network differ from that of the Silk Roads?
7. What lay behind the flourishing of Indian Ocean commerce in the postclassical millennium?
8. What is the relationship between the rise of Srivijaya and the world of Indian Ocean commerce?
9
9. What was the role of Swahili civilization in the world of Indian Ocean commerce?
10. What changes did trans-Saharan trade bring to West Africa?
11. In what ways did networks of interaction in the Western Hemisphere differ from those in the Eastern
Hemisphere?
Big Picture Questions
1. What motivated and sustained the long-distance commerce of the Silk Roads, Sea Roads, and Sand Roads?
2. Why did the Eastern Hemisphere develop long-distance trade more extensively than did the societies of the
Western Hemisphere?
3. In what ways did commercial exchange foster other changes?
4. In what ways was Afro-Eurasia a single interacting zone, and in what respects was it a vast region of
separate cultures and civilizations?
10
CHAPTER 9 OUTLINE
I.
Opening Vignette
A. Many believe that China will be the next superpower.
B. China was a major player among the third-wave civilizations.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
a China-centered “world order” encompassed most of eastern Asia
China’s borders reached far into Central Asia
its wealthy and cosmopolitan culture attracted visitors from afar
all of China’s neighbors felt its gravitational pull
China’s economy and technological innovation had effects throughout Eurasia
C. China was also changed by its interactions with non-Chinese peoples.
1. nomadic military threat
2. international trade as catalyst of change
II. The Reemergence of a Unified China
A. The Han dynasty collapsed around 220 C.E.
1.
2.
3.
4.
led to 300 years of political fragmentation
nomadic incursion from the north
conditions discredited Confucianism in many eyes
Chinese migration southward to Yangzi River valley began
B. A “Golden Age” of Chinese Achievement
1. the Sui dynasty (589–618) reunified China
a. Sui rulers vastly extended the canal system
b. but their ruthlessness and failure to conquer Korea alienated people, exhausted state’s resources
c. dynasty was overthrown, but state didn’t disintegrate
2. Tang (618–907) and Song (960–1279) dynasties built on Sui foundations
a. established patterns of Chinese life that lasted into twentieth century
b. regarded as a golden age of arts and literature
3. Tang and Song politics
a. six major ministries were created, along with the Censorate for surveillance over government
b. examination system revived to staff the bureaucracy
c. proliferation of schools and colleges
d. a large share of official positions went to sons of the elite
e. large landowners continued to be powerful, despite state efforts to redistribute land to the peasants
4. economic revolution under the Song
a. great prosperity
b. rapid population growth (from 50 million–60 million people during Tang dynasty to 120 million
by 1200)
c. great improvement in agricultural production
d. China was the most urbanized region in the world
e. great network of internal waterways (canals, rivers, lakes)
f. great improvements in industrial production
g. invention of print (both woodblock and movable type)
h. best navigational and shipbuilding technology in the world
i. invention of gunpowder
5. production for the market rather than for local consumption was widespread
11
a. cheap transportation allowed peasants to grow specialized crops
b. government demanded payment of taxes in cash, not in kind
c. growing use of paper money and financial instruments
C. Women in the Song Dynasty
1. the era wasn’t very “golden” for women
2. during the Tang dynasty, elite women in the north had had greater freedom (influence of steppe
nomads)
3. Song: tightening of patriarchal restrictions on women
4. literature highlighted the subjection of women
5. foot binding started in tenth or eleventh century C.E.
a. was associated with images of female beauty and eroticism
b. kept women restricted to the house
6. textile production became larger scale, displacing women from their traditional role in the industry
a. women found other roles in cities
b. prosperity of the elite created demand for concubines, entertainers, courtesans, prostitutes
7. in some ways the position of women improved
a. property rights expanded
b. more women were educated, in order to raise sons better
III. China and the Northern Nomads: A Chinese World Order in the Making
A. There have been two enduring misconceptions of Chinese history:
1. the idea that Chinese civilization was impressive but largely static
2. the idea that China was a self-contained civilization
B. For most of its history, China’s most enduring interaction with foreigners
was in the north, with the peoples of the steppes.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
northern nomads typically lived in small kinship-based groups
occasional creation of powerful states or confederations
pastoral societies needed grain and other farm products from China
leaders wanted Chinese manufactured and luxury goods
steppe pressure and intrusion was a constant factor in Chinese history for 2,000 years
nomads often felt threatened by the Chinese
a. Chinese military attacks on the steppes
b. Great Wall
7. China needed the nomads
a. steppes provided horses and other goods
b. nomads controlled much of the Silk Roads
C. The Tribute System in Theory
1. the Chinese understood themselves as the center of the world (“middle kingdom”), far superior to the
“barbarian” outsiders
2. establishment of “tribute system” to manage relations with non-Chinese peoples
a. non-Chinese authorities must acknowledge Chinese superiority
b. present tribute to the emperor
c. would receive trading privileges and “bestowals” in return (often worth more than the tribute)
3. the system apparently worked for centuries
D. The Tribute System in Practice
1. but the system disguised contradictory realities
12
2. some nomadic empires could deal with China on at least equal terms
a. Xiongnu confederacy (established around 200 B.C.E.)
b. Turkic empires of Mongolia were similar
3. steppe nomads usually did not want to conquer and rule China
a. preferred extortion
b. but nomads moved in when the Chinese state broke down
c. several steppe states took over parts of northern China
E. Cultural Influence across an Ecological Frontier
1. nomads who ruled parts of China often adopted Chinese ways
2. but Chinese culture did not have great impact on steppe nomads
a. pastoral societies retained their own cultural patterns
b. most lived where Chinese-style agriculture was impossible
3. interaction took the form of trade, military conflict, negotiations, extortion, and some cultural
influence
4. steppe culture influenced the parts of northern China that were ruled frequently by nomads
a. founders of Sui and Tang dynasties were of mixed blood
b. Tang dynasty: fad among northern Chinese elites for anything connected to “western barbarians”
IV. Coping with China: Comparing Korea, Vietnam, and Japan
A. The emerging states and civilizations of Korea, Vietnam, and Japan also
had tributary relationships with China.
1. agricultural, sedentary societies
2. their civilizations were shaped by proximity to China but did not become Chinese
3. similar to twentieth-century Afro-Asian societies that accepted elements of Western culture while
maintaining political/cultural independence
B. Korea and China
1. interaction with China started with temporary Chinese conquest of northern Korea during the Han
dynasty, with some colonization
2. Korean states emerged in fourth–seventh centuries C.E.
a. the states were rivals; also resisted Chinese political control
b. seventh century: the Silla kingdom allied with Tang dynasty China to bring some political unity
3. Korea generally maintained political independence under the Silla (688–900), Koryo (918–1392),
and Yi (1392–1910) dynasties
a. but China provided legitimacy for Korean rulers
b. efforts to replicate Chinese court life and administration
c. capital city Kumsong modeled on Chinese capital Chang’an
4. acceptance of much Chinese culture
a. Chinese luxury goods, scholarship, and religious influence
b. Confucianism had negative impact on Korean women, especially after 1300
5. Korea maintained its Korean culture
a. Chinese cultural influence had little effect on Korea’s serf-like peasants or large slave population
b. only Buddhism moved beyond the Korean elite
c. examination system for bureaucrats never won prominence
d. in 1400s, Korea developed a phonetic alphabet (hangul)
C. Vietnam and China
1. the experience of Vietnam was broadly similar to that of Korea
13
2. but Vietnam’s cultural heartland in the Red River valley was part of the Chinese state from 111
B.C.E. to 939 C.E.
a. real effort at cultural assimilation of elite
b. provoked rebellions
3. Vietnamese rulers adopted the Chinese approach to government
a. examination system helped undermine established aristocrats
b. elite remained deeply committed to Chinese culture
4. much of distinctive Vietnamese culture remained in place
a. language, cockfighting, betel nuts, greater roles for women
b. kept nature goddesses and a female Buddha in popular belief
c. developed a variation of Chinese writing, chu nom (southern script)
D. Japan and China
1. Japan was never invaded or conquered by China, so borrowing of Chinese culture was voluntary
2. main period of cultural borrowing was seventh–ninth centuries C.E., when first unified Japanese state
began to emerge
a. creation of Japanese bureaucratic state modeled on China began with Shotoku Taishi (572–622)
b. large-scale missions to China to learn
c. Seventeen Article Constitution
d. two capital cities (Nara and then Heian) were founded, both modeled on Chinese capital
(Chang’an)
3. elements of Chinese culture took root in Japan
a. several schools of Chinese Buddhism
b. art, architecture, education, medicine, religious views
c. Chinese writing system
4. Japanese borrowings were selective
5. Japan never created an effective centralized and bureaucratic state
a. political power became decentralized
b. local authorities developed their own military forces (samurai)
6. religious distinctiveness
a. Buddhism never replaced native belief system
b. the way of the kami (sacred spirits), later called Shinto
7. distinctive literary and artistic culture
a. unique writing system mixed Chinese characters with phonetic symbols
b. early development of tanka (highly stylized poetry)
c. highly refined aesthetic court culture, especially in Heian period (794–1192)
8. elite women escaped most of Confucian oppression
V. China and the Eurasian World Economy
A. Spillovers: China’s Impact on Eurasia
1. many of China’s technological innovations spread beyond its borders
a. salt production through solar evaporation
b. papermaking
c. printing (though resisted by the Islamic world)
d. gunpowder invented ca. 1000, but used differently after it reached Europe
e. Chinese textile, metallurgical, and naval technologies also stimulated imitation and innovation
(e.g., magnetic compass)
14
2. Chinese prosperity stimulated commercial life all over Eurasia
B. On the Receiving End: China as Economic Beneficiary
1.
2.
3.
4.
China learned cotton and sugar cultivation and processing from India
China was transformed around 1000 by introduction of new rice strains from Vietnam
technological creativity was spurred by cross-cultural contact
growing participation in Indian Ocean trade
a. foreign merchant settlements in southern Chinese ports by Tang era
b. sometimes brought violence, e.g., massive massacre of foreigners in Canton in the 870s
c. transformation of southern China to production for export instead of subsistence
VI. China and Buddhism
A. Buddhism was India’s most important gift to China
1. China’s only large-scale cultural borrowing until Marxism
2. China was the base for Buddhism’s spread to Korea and Japan
B. Making Buddhism Chinese
1. Buddhism entered China via Silk Roads in first–second centuries C.E.
a. had little appeal at first
b. Indian culture was too different from Chinese
2. Buddhism took root 300–800 C.E.
a. collapse of the Han dynasty ca. 200 C.E. brought chaos and discrediting of Confucianism
b. nomadic rulers in northern China favored Buddhism
c. Buddhism was comforting
d. monasteries provided increasing array of social services
e. Buddhists appeared to have access to magical powers
f. serious effort to present Buddhism in a form accessible to the Chinese
g. it was Mahayana form of Buddhism that became popular
3. Sui and early Tang dynasties gave state support to Buddhism
a. Sui emperor Wendi (r. 581–604) had monasteries built at base of China’s five sacred mountains
b. monasteries became very wealthy
c. Buddhism was never independent from state authorities
C. Losing State Support: The Crisis of Chinese Buddhism
1. growth of Chinese Buddhism provoked resistance and criticism
a. deepening resentment of the Buddhist establishment’s wealth
b. it was foreign, thus offensive
c. monastic celibacy and withdrawal undermined the Confucian-based family system
2. new xenophobia perhaps started with An Lushan rebellion (755–763), led by foreign general
3. Chinese state began direct action against foreign religions in 841–845
a. 260,000 monks and nuns forced to return to secular life
b. thousands of monasteries, temples, and shrines confiscated or destroyed
c. Buddhists forbidden to use precious metals or gems for their images
4. Buddhism did not vanish from China; it remained an important element of popular religion
VII. Reflections: Why Do Things Change?
A. Change and transformation are constants in human history.
1. explaining why and how societies change is historians’ most central issue
2. there is often disagreement about what is the most important catalyst of change
15
B. The case of China illustrates the range of factors that drive change.
1. world historians tend to find contact with strangers to be the primary source of change
2. the history of China and East Asia helps illustrate this view
3. but perhaps it’s misleading to distinguish between internal and external sources of change
KEY TERMS
An Lushan: Foreign-born general who led a major revolt against the Tang dynasty in 755–763, perhaps
provoking China’s turn to xenophobia. (pron. ahn loo-shahn)
*bushido: The “way of the warrior,” referring to the military virtues of the Japanese samurai, including
bravery, loyalty, and an emphasis on death over surrender. (pron. boo-SHEE-doh)
Chinese Buddhism: Buddhism was China’s only large-scale cultural borrowing before the twentieth century;
Buddhism entered China from India in the first and second centuries C.E. but only became popular in 300–
800 C.E. through a series of cultural accommodations. At first supported by the state, Buddhism suffered
persecution during the ninth century but continued to play a role in Chinese society.
chu nom: A variation of Chinese writing developed in Vietnam that became the basis for an independent
national literature; “southern script.” (pron. choo nom)
*foot binding: Chinese practice of tightly wrapping girls’ feet to keep them small, begun in the Tang dynasty;
an emphasis on small size and delicacy was central to views of female beauty.
*hangul: A phonetic alphabet developed in Korea in the fifteenth century (pron. HAHN-gool)
Hangzhou: China’s capital during the Song dynasty, with a population of more than a million people. (pron.
hong-joe)
Heian: Japan’s second capital city (now known as Kyoto), modeled on the Chinese capital of Chang’an; also
used to describe the period of Japanese history from 794 to 1192 C.E. (pron. HIGH-an)
Jurchen: A nomadic people who established a state that included parts of northern China (1115–1234).
*kami: Sacred spirits of Japan, whether ancestors or natural phenomena; their worship much later came to be
called Shinto. (pron. KAHM-ee)
Khitan: A nomadic people who established a state that included parts of northern China (907–1125). (pron.
kee-tahn)
Koryo: Korean dynasty (918–1392). (pron. KAW-ree-oh)
Kumsong: The capital of Korea in the medieval era, modeled on the Chinese capital of Chang’an. (pron.
KOOM-song)
*Murasaki Shikibu: Perhaps Japan’s greatest author, a woman active at the Heian court who is best known for
The Tale of Genji, which she wrote around 1000 C.E. (pron. moo-rah-SAH-kee shee-KEE-boo)
Nara: Japan’s first capital city, modeled on the Chinese capital of Chang’an. (pron. NAH-rah)
Neo-Confucianism: A philosophy that emerged in Song-dynasty China; it revived Confucian thinking while
adding in Buddhist and Daoist elements.
Pure Land Buddhism: A school of Buddhism that proved to be immensely popular in China; emphasized
salvation by faith in the Amitabha Buddha.
*samurai: Members of Japan’s warrior class, which developed as political power became increasingly
decentralized. (pron. SAM-ooh-rye)
Shotoku Taishi: Japanese statesman (572–622) who launched the drive to make Japan into a centralized
bureaucratic state modeled on China; he is best known for the Seventeen Article Constitution, which lays
out the principles of this reform. (pron. show-TOE-koo tie-EESH-ah)
*Silla dynasty: The first ruling dynasty to bring a measure of political unity to the Korean peninsula (688–900).
(pron. SILL-ah or SHILL-ah)
*Song dynasty economic revolution: A major economic quickening that took place in China under the Song
dynasty (960–1279); marked by rapid population growth, urbanization, economic specialization, the
development of an immense network of internal waterways, and a great increase in industrial production
and innovation. (pron. soong)
16
Sui dynasty: Ruling dynasty of China (581–618) that effectively reunited the country after several centuries of
political fragmentation. (pron. sway)
*Tang dynasty: Ruling dynasty of China from 618 to 907; noted for its openness to foreign cultural influences.
(pron. tahng)
tanka: Highly stylized form of Japanese poetry that has been a favored means of expression for centuries.
(pron. TAHN-kah)
tribute system: Chinese method of dealing with foreign lands and peoples that assumed the subordination of all
non-Chinese authorities and required the payment of tribute—produce of value from their countries—to the
Chinese emperor (although the Chinese gifts given in return were often much more valuable).
Trung sisters: Two Vietnamese sisters who launched a major revolt against the Chinese presence in Vietnam in
39 C.E.; the rebellion was crushed and the sisters committed suicide, but they remained symbols of
Vietnamese resistance to China for centuries. (pron. troong)
Uighurs: Turkic empire of the steppes; flourished in the eighth century C.E. (pron. WEE-gers)Muslims
Wendi, Emperor: Sui emperor (r. 581–604) who particularly patronized Buddhism. (pron. WEN-dee)
Xiongnu: Major nomadic confederacy that was established ca. 200 B.C.E. and eventually reached from
Manchuria to Central Asia. (pron. SHE-OONG-noo)
Yi: Korean dynasty (1392–1910). (pron. yee)
Margin Review Questions
1. Why are the centuries of the Tang and Song dynasties in China sometimes referred to as a “golden age”?
2. In what ways did women’s lives change during the Tang and Song dynasties?
3. How did the Chinese and their nomadic neighbors to the north view each other?
4. What assumptions underlay the tribute system?
5. How did the tribute system in practice differ from the ideal Chinese understanding of its operation?
6. In what ways did China and the nomads influence each other?
17
7. In what different ways did Korea, Vietnam, and Japan experience and respond to Chinese influence?
8. In what different ways did Japanese and Korean women experience the pressures of Confucian orthodoxy?
9. In what ways did China participate in the world of Eurasian commerce and exchange, and with what
outcomes?
10. What facilitated the rooting of Buddhism within China?
11. What were the major sources of opposition to Buddhism within China?
Big Picture Questions
1. In what ways did Tang and Song dynasty China resemble the classical Han dynasty period, and in what
ways had China changed?
18
2. Based on this chapter, how would you respond to the idea that China was a self-contained or isolated
civilization?
3. In what different ways did nearby peoples experience their giant Chinese neighbor, and how did they
respond to it?
4. How can you explain the changing fortunes of Buddhism in China?
5. How did China influence the world beyond East Asia? How was China itself transformed by its
encounters with a wider world?
Chapter 10 Outline
I.
Opening Vignette
A. In 1964, the Eastern Orthodox patriarch Athenagoras and Pope Paul VI
met and rescinded the mutual excommunication decrees imposed by their
respective churches in 1054.
1. Christianity had provided common ground for postclassical societies in western Eurasia
2. but Christendom was deeply divided: Byzantine Empire and West
a. Byzantium continued Roman imperial traditions
b. West tried to maintain links to classical world
c. but Roman imperial order disintegrated in the West
3. Roman Catholic Church of the West established independence from political authorities; Eastern
Orthodox Church did not
4. western church was much more rural than Byzantium
5. Western Europe emerged, at an increasing pace after 1000, as a dynamic third-wave civilization
6. Western Europe was a hybrid civilization: classical, Germanic, Celtic
7. in 500 C.E., only about one-third of all Christians lived in Europe
a. many distinct forms of Christianity in other regions
19
b. many branches have survived throughout Afro-Eurasia; other branches were eliminated by spread
of alternative religions
II. Eastern Christendom: Building on the Roman Past
A. The Byzantine Empire has no clear starting point.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
continuation of the Roman Empire
some scholars date its beginning to 330 C.E., with foundation of Constantinople
western empire collapsed in fifth century; eastern half survived another 1,000 years
eastern empire contained ancient civilizations: Egypt, Greece, Syria, and Anatolia
Byzantine advantages over western empire
a. wealthier and more urbanized
b. more defensible capital (Constantinople)
c. shorter frontier
d. access to the Black Sea; command of eastern Mediterranean
e. stronger army, navy, and merchant marine
f. continuation of late Roman infrastructure
g. conscious effort to preserve Roman ways
B. The Byzantine State
1. the Byzantine Empire was much smaller than the Roman Empire
2. but it remained a major force in eastern Mediterranean until around 1200
3. political authority was tightly centralized in Constantinople
a. emperor ruled as God’s representative on earth
b. awesome grandeur of court (based on ancient Persian style)
c. was mostly concerned with tax collection and keeping order
4. territory shrank after 1085, as western Europeans and Turks attacked
C. The Byzantine Church and Christian Divergence
1. the Church was closely tied to the state: caesaropapism
a. Byzantine emperor was head of both the state and the Church
b. emperor appointed the patriarch, sometimes made doctrinal decisions, called church councils
2. Orthodox Christianity deeply influenced all of Byzantine life
a. legitimated imperial rule
b. provided cultural identity
c. pervasiveness of churches, icons
d. even common people engaged in theological disputes
3. Eastern Orthodoxy increasingly defined itself in opposition to Latin Christianity
a. Latin Christianity was centered on the pope, Rome
b. growing rift between the two parts of Christendom
c. sense of religious difference reflected East/West political difference
d. with rise of Islam, Constantinople and Rome remained as sole hubs of Christendom
e. important East/West cultural differences (language, philosophy, theology, church practice)
f. schism in 1054, with mutual excommunication
g. Crusades (from 1095 on) worsened the situation
h. during Fourth Crusade, Westerners sacked Constantinople (1204) and ruled Byzantium for next
50 years
D. Byzantium and the World
1. Byzantium had a foot in both Europe and Asia, interacted intensively with neighbors
20
2. continuation of long Roman fight with Persian Empire
a. weakened both states, left them open to Islamic conquests
b. Persia was conquered by Islam; Byzantium lost territory
3. Byzantium was a central player in long-distance Eurasian trade
a. Byzantine gold coins (bezants) were a major Mediterranean currency for over 500 years
b. Byzantine crafts (jewelry, textiles, purple dyes, silk) were in high demand
4. important cultural influence of Byzantium
a. transmitted ancient Greek learning to Islamic world and West
b. transmission of Orthodox Christianity to Balkans and Russia
E. The Conversion of Russia
1. most important conversion was that of Prince Vladimir of Kiev
2. Orthodoxy transformed state of Rus; became central to Russian identity
3. Moscow finally declared itself to be the “third Rome,” assuming role of protector of Christianity after
fall of Constantinople
III. Western Christendom: Rebuilding in the Wake of Roman Collapse
A. Western Europe was on the margins of world history for most of the
postclassical millennium.
1.
2.
3.
4.
it was far removed from the growing world trade routes
European geography made political unity difficult
coastlines and river systems facilitated internal exchange
moderate climate enabled population growth
B. Political Life in Western Europe, 500–1000
1. traditional date for fall of western Roman Empire is 476 C.E.
2. with Roman collapse:
a. large-scale centralized rule vanished
b. Europe’s population fell by 25 percent because of war and disease
c. contraction of land under cultivation
d. great diminution of urban life
e. long-distance trade outside of Italy shriveled up
f. great decline in literacy
g. Germanic peoples emerged as the dominant peoples in West
h. shift in center of gravity from Mediterranean to north and west
3. survival of much of classical and Roman heritage
a. Germanic peoples who established new kingdoms had been substantially Romanized already
b. high prestige of things Roman
c. Germanic rulers adopted Roman-style written law
4. several Germanic kingdoms tried to recreate Roman-style unity
a. Charlemagne (r. 768–814) acted “imperial”
b. revival of Roman Empire on Christmas Day 800 (coronation of Charlemagne); soon fragmented
c. another revival of Roman Empire with imperial coronation of Otto I of Saxony (r. 936–973)
C. Society and the Church, 500–1000
1. within these new kingdoms:
a. highly fragmented, decentralized society
b. great local variation
c. landowning warrior elite exercised power
21
2. social hierarchies
a. lesser lords and knights became vassals of kings or great lords
b. serfdom displaced slavery
3. Catholic Church was a major element of stability
a. hierarchy modeled on that of the Roman Empire
b. became very rich
c. conversion of Europe’s non-Christians
d. most of Europe was Christian (with pagan elements) by 1100
4. Church and ruling class usually reinforced each other
a. also an element of competition as rival centers of power
b. right to appoint bishops and the pope was controversial (the Investiture conflict)
D. Accelerating Change in the West: 1000–1300
1. a series of invasions in 700–1000 hindered European development
a. Muslims, Magyars, Vikings
b. largely ended by 1000
2. weather improved with warming trend that started after 750
3. High Middle Ages: time of clear growth and expansion
a. European population in 1000 was about 35 million; about 80 million in 1340
b. opening of new land for cultivation
4. growth of long-distance trade, from two major centers
a. northern Europe
b. northern Italian towns
c. great trading fairs (especially in Champagne area of France) enabled exchange between northern
and southern merchants
5. European town and city populations rose
a. Venice by 1400 had around 150,000 people
b. still smaller than great cities elsewhere in the world
c. new specializations, organized into guilds
6. new opportunities for women
a. a number of urban professions were open to women
b. widows of great merchants could continue husbands’ business
c. opportunities declined by the fifteenth century
d. religious life: nuns, Beguines, anchoresses (e.g., Hildegard of Bingen and Julian of Norwich)
7. growth of territorial states with better-organized governments
a. kings consolidated their authority in eleventh–thirteenth centuries
b. appearance of professional administrators
c. some areas did not develop territorial kingdoms (Italian city-states, small German principalities)
E. Europe Outward Bound: The Crusading Tradition
1. medieval expansion of Christendom after 1000
a. occurred at the same time that Byzantium declined
b. clearance of land, especially on eastern fringe of Europe
c. Scandinavian colonies in Newfoundland, Greenland, Iceland
d. Europe had direct, though limited, contact with East and South Asia by thirteenth–fourteenth
centuries
2. Crusade movement began in 1095
22
a. wars at God’s command, authorized by the pope, for which participants received an indulgence
(release from penalty for confessed sins)
b. amazingly popular; were religious wars at their core
3. most famous Crusades aimed to regain Jerusalem and holy places
a. many waves of Crusaders to the Near East
b. creation of four small Christian states (last fell in 1291)
c. showed Europe’s growing organizational ability
4. Iberian Peninsula Crusade
5. Baltic Crusade
6. attacks on Byzantine Empire and Russia
7. Crusades had little lasting political or religious impact in the Middle East
8. Crusades had a significant impact on Europe
a. conquest of Spain, Sicily, Baltic region
b. Crusaders weakened Byzantium
c. popes strengthened their position for a time
d. tens of thousands of Europeans made contact with the Islamic world
e. hardened cultural barriers
IV. The West in Comparative Perspective
A. Catching Up
1. the hybrid civilization of Western
Europe was less developed than Byzantium, China, India, or the Islamic world
a. Muslims regarded Europeans as barbarians
b. Europeans recognized their own backwardness
2. Europeans were happy to exchange with/borrow from more advanced civilizations to the east
a. European economies reconnected with the Eurasian trading system
b. Europeans welcomed scientific, philosophical, and mathematical concepts from Arabs, classical
Greeks, and India
c. the most significant borrowing was from China
3. Europe was a developing civilization like others of the era
4. by 1500, Europe had caught up with China and the Islamic world; surpassed them in some areas
5. 500–1300 was a period of great innovation
a. agriculture
b. new reliance on nonanimal sources of energy
c. technological borrowing for warfare, with further development
d. Europe developed a passion for technology
B. Pluralism in Politics
1. Europe crystallized into a system of competing states
2. political pluralism shaped Western European civilization
a. led to frequent wars and militarization
b. stimulated technological development
3. states still were able to communicate economically and intellectually
4. rulers were generally weaker than those to the east
a. royal-noble-ecclesiastical power struggle allowed urban merchants to win great independence
b. perhaps paved the way for capitalism
c. development of representative institutions (parliaments)
23
C. Reason and Faith
1. distinctive intellectual tension between faith and reason developed
2. intellectual life flourished in the centuries after 1000
a. creation of universities from earlier cathedral schools
b. scholars had some intellectual freedom at universities
3. in the universities, some scholars began to emphasize the ability of human reason to understand
divine mysteries
a. also applied reason to law, medicine, and world of nature
b. development of “natural philosophy” (scientific study of nature)
4. search for classical Greek texts (especially Aristotle)
a. were found in Byzantium and the Arab world
b. twelfth–thirteenth centuries: access to ancient Greek and Arab scholarship
5. deep impact of Aristotle
a. his writings were the basis of university education
b. dominated Western European thought between 1200 and 1700
6. no similar development occurred in the Byzantine Empire
a. focus of education was the humanities
b. suspicion of classical Greek thought
7. Islamic world had deep interaction with classical Greek thought
a. massive amount of translation in ninth–tenth centuries
b. encouraged a flowering of Arab scholarship between 800 and 1200
c. caused a debate among Muslim thinkers on faith and reason
d. Islamic world eventually turned against natural philosophy
V. Reflections: Remembering and Forgetting: Continuity and Surprise in the Worlds of Christendom
A. Many features of medieval Christendom have extended into the modern
era.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
crusading motivated Spanish and Portuguese explorers
merchants’ freedom helped lead to capitalism and industrialization
endemic military conflict
ongoing “faith and reason” controversy
Eastern Orthodox/Roman Catholic division of Christianity remains
universities were a medieval creation
B. We need to beware of the notion that the course of medieval European
civilization determined the future.
1. some historians have argued that Europe’s global domination in the nineteenth century grew from its unique
character after 1000
2. in reality: Europe’s recent development was a great surprise
3. such a view minimizes the way people at the time understood their world
KEY TERMS
*Aristotle and classical Greek learning: Some works of the Greek philosopher Aristotle (384–322 B.C.E.) had
always been known in Western Europe, but beginning in the eleventh century, medieval thought was
increasingly shaped by a great recovery of Aristotle’s works and a fascination with other Greek authors;
24
this infusion of Greek rationalism into Europe’s universities shaped intellectual development for several
centuries.
*Byzantine Empire: Term used by modern historians to refer to the surviving eastern Roman Empire during
the medieval centuries; named after the ancient Greek city Byzantium, on the site of which the Roman
emperor Constantine founded a new capital, Constantinople, in 330 C.E. (pron. BIZ-an-teen)
caesaropapism: A political-religious system in which the secular ruler is also head of the religious
establishment, as in the Byzantine Empire. (pron. SEEZ-ar-oh-PAPE-ism).
*Charlemagne: Ruler of the Carolingian Empire (r. 768–814) who staged an imperial revival in Western
Europe. (pron. SHAHR-leh-mane)
*Christianity, Eastern Orthodox: Branch of Christianity that developed in the eastern part of the Roman
Empire and gradually separated, mostly on matters of practice, from the branch of Christianity dominant in
Western Europe; noted for the subordination of the Church to political authorities, a married clergy, the use
of leavened bread in the Eucharist, and insistence on church councils as the ultimate authority in Christian
belief and practice.
*Christianity, Roman Catholic: Western European branch of Christianity that gradually defined itself as
separate from Eastern Orthodoxy, with a major break in 1054 C.E.. that has still not been healed; “Roman
Catholic” was not commonly used until after the Protestant Reformation, but the term is just since, by the
eleventh century, Western Christendom defined itself in centralized terms, with the bishop of Rome (the
pope) as the ultimate authority in matters of doctrine.
*Constantinople: New capital for the eastern half of the Roman Empire, established by Emperor Constantine
in 330 C.E. on the site of the ancient Greek city of Byzantium; Constantinople’s highly defensible and
economically important site helped assure the city’s cultural and strategic importance for many centuries.
(pron. con-stan-tih-NO-pul)
*Crusades: Modern term meaning “ventures of the cross,” used to describe the “holy wars” waged by Western
Christendom from 1095 until the end of the Middle Ages and beyond; Crusades could only be declared by
the pope and were marked by participants swearing a vow and receiving an indulgence in return.
*Cyril and Methodius: Ninth-century Byzantine missionaries to the Slavs whose development of Cyrillic
script made it possible to write Slavic languages. (pron. SIR-uhl, meth-ODE-ee-us)
*Cyrillic: Alphabet based on Greek letters that was developed by two Byzantine missionaries, Cyril and
Methodius, to write Slavic languages. (pron. sih-RIL-ik)
European cities: Western Europe saw a major process of urbanization beginning in the eleventh century, with
towns that created major trade networks and that were notable for the high degree of independence they
often enjoyed.
Greek fire: Form of liquid fire that could be sprayed at the enemy; invented by the Byzantines and very
important in their efforts to halt the Arab advance into Byzantine territory.
*guild: An association formed by people pursuing the same line of work that regulated their professions; it also
provided a social and religious network for members.
*Holy Roman Empire: Term invented in the twelfth century to describe the Germany-based empire founded
by Otto I in 962 C.E.
“hybrid civilization,” the West as a: The distinctive path of Western Europe in the centuries following the
fall of the western Roman Empire, leading to a society that included elements of ancient Rome, the
practices of Germanic invaders who formed new states, Christianity, and elements of pre-Roman culture
that still survived.
*iconoclasm: The destruction of holy images; a term most often used to describe the Byzantine state policy of
image destruction from 726 to 843. (pron. eye-KON-oh-klasm)
*indulgence: A remission of the penalty (penance) for confessed sin that could be granted only by a pope, at
first to Crusaders and later for a variety of reasons.
*Justinian: Byzantine emperor (r. 527–565 C.E.), noted for his short-lived reconquest of much of the former
western Roman Empire and for his codification of Roman law.
*Kievan Rus: State that emerged around the city of Kiev in the ninth century C.E.; a culturally diverse region
that included Vikings as well as Finnic and Baltic peoples. The conversion of Vladimir, the grand prince of
Kiev, to Orthodox Christianity in 988 had long-term implications for Russia. (pron. key-YEV-an ROOS)
25
natural philosophy: The scientific study of nature, which developed, especially in Europe, in the later Middle
Ages.
*Otto I: King of Germany (r. 936–973) who built a consolidated German–northern Italian state and was
crowned emperor in 962, creating what became known in time as the “Holy Roman Empire.”
system of competing states: The distinctive organization of Western European political life that developed
after the fall of the western Roman Empire in the fifth century C.E. in which the existence of many small,
independent states encouraged military and economic competition.
*Vikings: Scandinavian raiders who had an impact on much of Western Europe in the late eighth to eleventh
centuries; their more peaceful cousins also founded colonies, including Newfoundland, Greenland, and
Iceland.
Vladimir, prince of Kiev: Grand prince of Kiev (r. 978–1015 C.E.) whose conversion to Orthodox Christianity
led to the incorporation of Russia into the sphere of Eastern Orthodoxy. (pron. vlad-IH-mir)
Margin Review Questions
1. In what respects did Byzantium continue the patterns of the classical Roman Empire? In what ways did it
diverge from those patterns?
2. How did Eastern Orthodox Christianity differ from Roman Catholicism?
3. In what ways was the Byzantine Empire linked to a wider world?
4. How did links to Byzantium transform the new civilization of Kievan Rus?
5. How did the historical development of the European West differ from that of Byzantium in the postclassical
era?
26
6. What replaced the Roman order in Western Europe?
7. In what ways was European civilization changing after 1000?
8. What was the impact of the Crusades in world history?
9. In what ways did borrowing from abroad shape European civilization after 1000?
10. Why was Europe unable to achieve the kind of political unity that China experienced? What impact did this
have on the subsequent history of Europe?
11. In what different ways did classical Greek philosophy and science have an impact in the West, in
Byzantium, and in the Islamic world?
27
Big Picture Questions
1. How did the histories of the Byzantine Empire and Western Europe differ during the era of third-wave
civilizations?
2. What accounts for the different historical trajectories of these two expressions of Christendom?
3. How did Byzantium and Western Europe interact with each other and with the larger world of the
postclassical era?
4. Was the civilization of the Latin West distinctive and unique, or was it broadly comparable to other
third-wave civilizations?
5. How does the history of the Christian world in the postclassical era compare with that of Tang and
Song dynasty China?
CHAPTER 11 OUTLINE
I.
Opening Vignette
A. By the start of the twenty-first century, Islam had acquired a significant
presence in the United States.
1. more than 1,200 mosques
28
2. about 8 million Muslims (some 2 million are African Americans)
B. The second half of the twentieth century saw the growing international
influence of Islam.
C. Islam had already been prominent in the world between 600 and 1600.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
encompassed parts of Africa, Europe, Middle East, and Asia
enormously significant in world history
creation of a new and innovative civilization
was the largest and most influential of the third-wave civilizations
Islam’s reach generated major cultural encounters
D. In the year 2000, there were perhaps 1.2 billion Muslims in the world (22
percent of the world’s population).
II. The Birth of a New Religion
A. The Homeland of Islam
1. unlike most religious/cultural traditions, Islam emerged from a marginal region
2. Arabian Peninsula as home of nomadic Arabs (Bedouins)
a. fiercely independent clans and tribes
b. variety of gods
3. Arabia also had sedentary, agricultural areas
4. Arabia lay on important East–West trade routes
a. Mecca became important as a trade center
b. the Kaaba was the most prominent religious shrine
c. the Quraysh tribe controlled local trade and pilgrimage
5. Arabia was on the edge of the Byzantine and Sassanid empires
a. so Arabs knew some practices of these empires
b. Judaism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism had spread among Arabs
B. The Messenger and the Message
1. the prophet of Islam was Muhammad Ibn Abdullah (570–632 C.E.)
a. orphaned at a young age
b. became a prosperous merchant thanks to marriage to Khadija
c. took to withdrawal and meditation
2. beginning of revelations from Allah in 610 C.E.
a. revelations recorded in the Quran
b. when heard in its original Arabic, believed to convey the presence of the divine
3. radically new teachings
a. monotheistic
b. Muhammad as “the seal of the prophets”
c. return to old, pure religion of Abraham
d. central tenet: submission to Allah (Muslim = “one who submits”)
e. need to create a new society of social justice, equality, and care for others (the umma)
4. core message summarized in the Five Pillars of Islam
a. first pillar is simple profession: “There is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the messenger of
God.”
b. prayer five times a day at prescribed times
c. generous giving to help the community and the needy
d. fasting during the month of Ramadan
29
e. pilgrimage to Mecca (hajj)
5. jihad (“struggle”) is sometimes called the “sixth pillar”
a. greater jihad: personal spiritual striving
b. lesser jihad/jihad of the sword: armed struggle against unbelief and evil
c. understanding of the concept has varied widely over time
C. The Transformation of Arabia
1. Muhammad attracted a small following, aroused opposition from Meccan elites
a. in 622, emigrated to Yathrib/Medina (the hijra)
b. created Islamic community (umma) in Medina
c. broke definitively from Judaism
2. rapid expansion throughout Arabia
a. military successes led to alliances
b. large-scale conversion
c. consolidation of Islamic control throughout Arabia by time of Muhammad’s death in 632
3. fundamental differences between births of Islam and Christianity
a. Islam did not grow up as persecuted minority religion
b. Islam didn’t separate “church” and state
III. The Making of an Arab Empire
A. The Arab state grew to include all or part of Egyptian, Roman/Byzantine,
Persian, Mesopotamian, and Indian civilizations.
1. many both in and out of Arab Empire converted to Islam
2. Arabic culture and language spread widely
3. Islam became a new third-wave civilization
B. War and Conquest
1.
2.
3.
4.
Arabic conquests were a continuation of long-term raiding pattern
new level of political organization allowed greater mobilization
Byzantine and Persian empires were weakened by long wars and internal revolts
limits of Arab expansion:
a. defeated Sassanid Empire in the 650s, took half of Byzantium
b. in early 700s, conquered most of Spain, attacked France
c. to the east, reached the Indus River
d. in 751, Arabs crushed a Chinese army at the Battle of Talas River
5. reasons for expansion:
a. economic: capture trade routes and agricultural regions
b. individual Arabs sought wealth and social promotion
c. communal: conquest helped hold the umma together
d. religious: bring righteous government to the conquered
6. conquest was not too destructive
a. Arab soldiers were restricted to garrison towns
b. local elites and bureaucracies were incorporated into empire
C. Conversion
1. initial conversion for many was “social conversion,” not deep spiritual change
2. Islam’s kinship to Judaism, Christianity, and Zoroastrianism made it attractive
3. Islam was associated from the beginning with a powerful state—suggested that Allah was a good god
to have on your side
30
4. the state provided incentives for conversion
a. earliest converts included slaves and prisoners of war
b. converts didn’t have to pay the jizya
c. Islam favored commerce
d. social climbers were helped by conversion
5. resistance to conversion among Berbers of North Africa, some Spanish Christians, some Persian
Zoroastrians
6. around 80 percent of the population of Persia converted between 750 and 900
7. some areas (Egypt, North Africa, Iraq) also converted to Arabic culture and language
D. Divisions and Controversies
1. a central problem: who should serve as successor to Muhammad (caliph)?
2. first four caliphs (the Rightly Guided Caliphs, 632–661) were companions of Muhammad
a. had to put down Arab tribal rebellions and new prophets
b. Uthman and Ali were both assassinated
c. civil war by 656
3. result was the Sunni/Shia split of Islam
a. Sunni Muslims: caliphs were rightful political and military leaders, chosen by the Islamic
community
b. Shia Muslims: leaders should be blood relatives of Muhammad, descended from Ali and his son
Husayn
c. started as a political conflict but became religious
d. Shias identified themselves as opponents of privilege
4. over time, caliphs became absolute monarchs
a. Umayyad dynasty (661–750) was a time of great expansion
b. Abbasid dynasty overthrew Umayyads in 750
5. basic religious issue: what does it mean to be a Muslim?
a. Islamic law (the sharia) helped answer the question
b. reaction against the distraction of worldly success: Sufis
c. the ulama and Sufism weren’t entirely incompatible—e.g., al-Ghazali (1058–1111)
d. but there was often tension between the two approaches
E. Women and Men in Early Islam
1.
2.
3.
4.
what rise of Islam meant for women remains highly controversial
spiritual level: Quran stated explicitly that women and men were equals
social level: Quran viewed women as subordinate, especially in marriage
Quran helped women in some ways (banned female infanticide, gave women control over their own
property, granted limited rights of inheritance, required woman’s consent to a marriage, recognized a
woman’s right to sexual satisfaction)
5. social practices of lands where Islam spread were also important in defining women’s roles
a. early Islam: some women played public roles; prayed in mosques, weren’t veiled or secluded
b. growing restrictions on women (especially in upper classes) under Abbasids
c. veiling and seclusion became standard among upper, ruling classes
d. lower-class women didn’t have the “luxury” of seclusion
e. practices were determined by Middle Eastern traditions much more than by Quran
6. hadiths (traditions about Muhammad) developed more negative images of women
7. Islam gave new religious outlets for women, especially as Sufis
31
IV. Islam and Cultural Encounter: A FourWay Comparison
A. The Arab Empire had all but disintegrated politically by the tenth
century.
1. last Abbasid caliph killed when Mongols sacked Baghdad in 1258
2. but Islamic civilization continued to flourish and expand
B. The Case of India
1. Turkic-speaking invaders brought Islam to India
2. establishment of Turkic and Muslim regimes in India beginning ca. 1000
a. at first, violent destruction of Hindu and Buddhist temples
b. Sultanate of Delhi (founded 1206) became more systematic
3. emergence of Muslim communities in India
a. Buddhists and low-caste Hindus found Islam attractive
b. newly agrarian people also liked Islam
c. subjects of Muslim rulers converted to lighten tax burden
d. Sufis fit mold of Indian holy men, encouraged conversion
e. at height, 20–25 percent of Indian population converted to Islam
a. monotheism vs. polytheism
b. equality of believers vs. caste system
c. sexual modesty vs. open eroticism
4. interaction of Hindus and Muslims
a. many Hindus served Muslim rulers
b. mystics blurred the line between the two religions
c. Sikhism developed in early sixteenth century; syncretic religion with elements of both Islam and
Hinduism
d. Muslims remained as a distinctive minority
C. The Case of Anatolia
1. Turks invaded Anatolia about the same time as India
a. major destruction at early stages in both places
b. Sufi missionaries were important in both places
c. but in Anatolia by 1500, 90 percent of the population was Muslim, and most spoke Turkish
2. reasons for the different results in the two regions
a. Anatolia had a much smaller population (8 million vs. 48 million)
b. far more Turkic speakers settled in Anatolia
c. much deeper destruction of Byzantine society in Anatolia
d. active discrimination against Christians in Anatolia
e. India’s decentralized politics and religion could absorb the shock of invasion better
f. Turkish rulers of Anatolia welcomed converts; fewer social barriers to conversion
g. Sufis replaced Christian institutions in Anatolia
3. by 1500, the Ottoman Empire was the most powerful Islamic state
4. Turks of Anatolia retained much of their culture after conversion
D. The Case of West Africa
1. Islam came peacefully with traders, not by conquest
2. in West Africa, Islam spread mostly in urban centers
a. provided links to Muslim trading partners
32
3.
4.
5.
6.
b. provided literate officials and religious legitimacy to state
by the sixteenth century, several West African cities were Islamic centers
a. Timbuktu had over 150 Quranic schools and several centers of higher education
b. libraries had tens of thousands of books
c. rulers subsidized building of major mosques
d. Arabic became a language of religion, education, administration, trade
did not have significant Arab immigration
Sufis played little role until the eighteenth century
no significant spread into countryside until nineteenth century
E. The Case of Spain
1. Arab and Berber forces conquered most of Spain (called al-Andalus by Muslims) in the early eighth
century
2. Islam did not overwhelm Christianity there
3. high degree of interaction between Muslims, Christians, and Jews
a. some Christians converted to Islam
b. Christian Mozarabs adopted Arabic culture but not religion
4. religious toleration started breaking down by late tenth century
a. increasing war with Christian states of northern Spain
b. more puritanical forms of Islam entered Spain from North Africa
c. in Muslim-ruled regions, increasing limitations placed on Christians
d. many Muslims were forced out of Christian-conquered regions or kept from public practice of
their faith
e. completion of Christian reconquest in 1492
V. The World of Islam as a New Civilization
A. By 1500, the Islamic world embraced at least parts of nearly every other
Afro-Eurasian civilization.
B. Networks of Faith
1. Islamic civilization was held together by Islamic practices and beliefs
a. beliefs/practices transmitted by the ulama, who served as judges, interpreters, etc.
b. starting in eleventh century: formal colleges (madrassas) taught religion, law, and sometimes
secular subjects
c. system of education with common texts, sharing of scholarship throughout Islamic world
2. Sufism: branches of Sufism gathered around particular teachers (shaykhs) by the tenth century
a. development of great Sufi orders by the twelfth/thirteenth centuries
b. Sufi devotional teachings, practices, writings spread widely
3. many thousands of Muslims made the hajj to Mecca each year
C. Networks of Exchange
1. Islamic world was an immense arena for exchange of goods, technology, and ideas
a. great central location for trade
b. Islamic teaching valued commerce
c. urbanization spurred commerce
2. Muslim merchants were prominent on all the major Afro-Eurasian trade routes
3. exchange of agricultural products and practices between regions
4. diffusion of technology
a. spread ancient Persian water-drilling techniques
33
b. improvement of Chinese rockets
c. adoption of papermaking techniques from China in the eighth century
5. exchange of ideas
a. Persian bureaucratic practice, court ritual, poetry
b. ancient Greek, Hellenistic, and Indian texts
c. developments in mathematics, astronomy, optics, medicine, pharmacology
VI. Reflections: Past and Present: Choosing Our History
KEY TERMS
*Abbasid caliphate: Dynasty of caliphs who ruled an increasingly fragmented Islamic state from 750 to 1258,
eventually becoming little more than figureheads. (pron. ah-BASS-id)
Andalus, al-: Arabic name for Spain (literally “the land of the Vandals”), most of which was conquered by
Arab and Berber forces in the early eighth century C.E. (pron. al-AND-ah-loos)
Anatolia: Ancient name of Asia Minor, part of the Byzantine Empire that was gradually overrun by the Turks
and that now is the Republic of Turkey. (pron. an-ah-TOLE-ee-yah)
Battle of Talas River: Arab victory over the Chinese in 751 C.E. that checked Chinese expansion to the west and
enabled the conversion of Central Asia to Islam. (pron. tah-las)
*Bedouins: Nomadic Arabs. (pron. BED-wins)
dhimmis: “Protected subjects” under Islamic rule, non-Muslims who were allowed to practice their faith as
“people of the book” in return for their paying special taxes. (pron. DIM-ees)
Ghazali, al-: Great Muslim theologian, legal scholar, and Sufi mystic (1058–1111) who was credited with
incorporating Sufism into mainstream Islamic thought. (pron. al-gha-ZAHL-ee)
hadiths: Traditions passed on about the sayings or actions of Muhammad and his immediate followers; hadiths
rank second only to the Quran as a source of Islamic law. (pron. hah-DEETHS)
*hajj: The pilgrimage to Mecca enjoined on every Muslim who is able to make the journey; one of the Five
Pillars of Islam. (pron. HAHJ)
*hijra: The “flight” of Muhammad and his original seventy followers from Mecca to Yathrib (later Medina) in 622
C.E.; the journey marks the starting point of the Islamic calendar. (pron. HIJ-ruh)
House of Wisdom: An academic center for research and translation of foreign texts that was established in
Baghdad in 830 C.E. by the Abbasid caliph al-Mamun.
*Ibn Battuta: Fourteenth-century Arab traveler (1304–1368) who wrote about his extensive journeys
throughout the Islamic world. (pron. IB-uhn ba- TOO-tuh)
Ibn Sina: One of the greatest polymaths of the Islamic world (980–1037), a Persian who wrote prolifically on
scientific (especially medical) and philosophical issues; he is often known as “Avicenna,” the Latinized
form of his name. (pron. ibn SEE-nah)
*imams: In Shia Islam, leaders with high religious authority; the twelve imams of early Shia Islam were
Muhammad’s nephew Ali and his descendants. (pron. EE-mahms)
*jihad: Arabic for “struggle,” this term describes both the spiritual striving of each Muslim toward a godly life
and armed struggle against the forces of unbelief and evil. (pron. jee-HAHD)
jizya: Special tax paid by dhimmis in Muslim-ruled territory in return for freedom to practice their own
religion. (pron. jeez-YAH)
*Kaaba: Great stone shrine in Mecca that was a major pilgrimage center for worshippers of many different
deities before it was reconsecrated to monotheistic use by Muhammad. (pron. KAH-bah)
madrassas: Formal colleges for higher instruction in the teachings of Islam as well as in secular subjects, founded
throughout the Islamic world beginning in the eleventh century. (pron. MAH-dras-ahs)
*Mecca: Key pilgrimage center in Arabia that became the birthplace of Islam.
Mozarabs: “Would-be Arabs” in Muslim-ruled Spain, referring to Christians who adopted much of Arabic
culture and observed many Muslim practices without actually converting to Islam. (pron. MOH-zah-rabs)
*Muhammad Ibn Abdullah: The Prophet of Islam (570–632 C.E.).
34
*Muslim: Literally, “one who submits”; the name was adopted by Muhammad and his followers to describe
their submission to God.
*Pillars of Islam: The five core practices required of Muslims: a profession of faith, regular prayer, charitable
giving, fasting during Ramadan, and a pilgrimage to Mecca (if financially and physically possible).
*Polo, Marco: The most famous European traveler of the Middle Ages (1254–1324), whose travel account of
his time in China was widely popular in Europe.
Rightly Guided Caliphs: The first four rulers of the Islamic world (632–661) after the death of Muhammad.
*Quran: Also transliterated as Qur’án and Koran, this is the most holy text of Islam, recording the revelations
given to the prophet Muhammad. (pron. kuh- RAHN)
*sharia: Islamic law, dealing with all matters of both secular and religious life. (pron. sha-REE-ah)
shaykhs: Sufi teachers who attracted a circle of disciples and often founded individual schools of Sufism.
(pron. SHAKES)
*Sikhism: A significant syncretic religion that evolved in India, blending elements of Islam and Hinduism;
founded by Guru Nanak (1469–1539). (pron. SEEK-ism)
*Sufis: Islamic mystics, many of whom were important missionaries of Islam in conquered lands and who were
revered as saints. (pron. SOO-fees)
Sultanate of Delhi: Major Turkic Muslim state established in northern India in 1206. (pron. DEL-ee)
Timbuktu: Great city of West Africa, noted as a center of Islamic scholarship in the fourteenth to sixteenth
centuries. (pron. tim-buk-TOO)
ulama: Islamic religious scholars. (pron. oo-leh-MAH)
*Umayyad caliphate: Family of caliphs who ruled the Islamic world from 661 to 750 C.E. (pron. oo-MY-ad)
umma: The community of all believers in Islam. (pron. UM-mah)
Margin Review Questions
1. In what ways did the early history of Islam reflect its Arabian origins?
2. How does the core message of Islam compare with that of Judaism and Christianity?
3. In what ways was the rise of Islam revolutionary, both in theory and in practice?
4. Why were Arabs able to construct such a huge empire so quickly?
5. What accounts for the widespread conversion to Islam?
35
6. What is the difference between Sunni and Shia Islam?
7. In what ways were Sufi Muslims critical of mainstream Islam?
8. How did the rise of Islam change the lives of women?
9. What similarities and differences can you identify in the spread of Islam to India, Anatolia, West Africa,
and Spain?
10. Why was Anatolia so much more thoroughly Islamized than India?
11. What makes it possible to speak of the Islamic world as a distinct and coherent
civilization?
12. In what ways was the world of Islam a “cosmopolitan civilization”?
36
Big Picture Questions
1. What distinguished the first centuries of Islamic history from the early history of Christianity and
Buddhism? What similarities and differences characterized their religious outlooks?
2. How might you account for the immense religious and political/military success of Islam in its early
centuries?
3. In what ways might Islamic civilization be described as cosmopolitan, international, or global?
4. “Islam was simultaneously both a single world of shared meaning and interaction and a series of
separate and distinct communities, often in conflict with one another.” What evidence could you provide to
support both sides of this argument?
5. What changes did Islamic expansion generate in those societies that encountered it, and how was Islam
itself transformed by those encounters?
CHAPTER 12 OUTLINE
I.
Opening Vignette
A. Legacy of Chinggis Khan in Mongolia
1. his spirit banner was destroyed by Communists in 1937
2. late twentieth-century revival of Chinggis Khan’s memory
3. 2006 was 800th anniversary of foundation of Mongol Empire
37
B. The story of the Mongols is an important corrective to historians’ focus
on agriculturalists.
II. Looking Back and Looking Around: The Long History of Pastoral Nomads
A. Economies focused on livestock production emerged around 4000 B.C.E.
1. dependent on horses, camels, goats, sheep, cattle, yaks, reindeer
2. pastoral societies developed in:
a. grasslands of Eurasia and sub-Saharan Africa
b. Arabian and Saharan deserts
c. subarctic regions, Tibetan plateau
d. not in Americas: lack of large animals for domesticating
B. The World of Pastoral Societies
1. standard features of pastoral societies:
a. generally less productive than agricultural societies
b. needed large grazing areas
c. populations much smaller than in agricultural societies
d. lived in encampments of related kinfolk, usually common ancestry in male line
e. clans sometimes gathered as a tribe; could absorb unrelated people
f. more egalitarian than sedentary societies, but sometimes distinguished between nobles and
commoners
g. women usually had higher status than in sedentary societies
h. mobility—nomads
2. pastoralists had deep connections to agricultural neighbors
a. sought access to foodstuffs, manufactured goods, luxury items
b. especially in inner Eurasia, longing for civilized products encouraged formation of nomadic states
3. formation of nomadc states was difficult
a. charismatic leaders like Chinggis Khan could make a series of tribal alliances that became
powerful states
b. when formed, almost the whole male population (and some women) became warriors
4. cultural interaction with agricultural lands
a. inner Eurasian nomads adopted Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and Manichaeism at
various times
5. mastered environments unsuitable for agriculture
a. brought food-producing revolution and significant human presence to fringe regions
b. life changed significantly for Inner Asian steppe peoples with introduction of horseback riding ca.
1000 B.C.E.
C. The Xiongnu: An Early Nomadic Empire
1. mounted warfare made nomadic empires possible
2. the Xiongnu (in Mongolian steppes
north of China) formed an important
early confederacy (from Manchuria to central Asia) in third to second centuries B.C.E.
3. ruler Modun (r. 210–174 B.C.E.) revolutionized nomadic life
a. created a more centralized, hierarchical political system
b. divinely sanctioned ruler
c. distinction between “junior” and “senior” clans became more important
d. exacted tribute from other nomads and from China
38
4. Xiongnu Empire was a model copied by Turkic and Mongol empires
D. The Arabs and the Turks
1. nomads made their greatest impact on world history between 500 and 1500 C.E.
a. Arabs, Berbers, Turks, and Mongols created largest empires of that millennium
b. Islam derived from largely nomadic Arabs, carried by Turks
c. Byzantium, Persia, India, and China were all controlled at least for a time by formerly nomadic
people
2. Bedouin Arabs became effective fighters with development of a good camel saddle (sometime
between 500 and 100 B.C.E.)
a. made control of trade routes through Arabia possible
b. camel nomads were shock troops of Islamic expansion
3. Turkic-speaking nomads (homeland in Mongolia and southern Siberia)
a. gradual southward/westward spread
b. series of short-lived nomadic empires 552–965 C.E.
c. spread of Turkic language and culture over much of Inner Asia and beyond
d. Turkish conversion to Islam between tenth and fourteenth centuries
e. Seljuk Empire (eleventh to twelfth centuries): Turks began to claim the Muslim title sultan;
exercised real power
f. carried Islam to India and Anatolia
E. The Masai of East Africa
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
best information on nomad/agrarian relations in Africa comes from after 1500
no large states or chiefdoms, pastoral or agricultural, developed in what is now Kenya and Tanzania
Masai were nomadic cattle-keepers
Masai had been partly agricultural before eighteenth to nineteenth centuries
Masai interaction with settled peoples
a. Masai would admit outsiders into their society
b. depended on hunters and farmers
c. during times of drought or disease, Masai might take refuge with hunters or farmers
d. farmers adopted elements of Masai culture and military
III. Breakout: The Mongol Empire
A. The Mongols formed the greatest land-based empire in history following
their breakout from Mongolia in the thirteenth century.
1.
2.
3.
4.
extensive linkage of nomads of inner Eurasian steppes with agricultural civilizations
created far greater contact between Europe, China, and Islamic world than ever before
total Mongol population was only about 700,000
did not have a major cultural impact on the world
a. did not try to spread their ancestor worship/shamanism to others
b. mostly interested in exploiting conquered peoples
c. Mongol culture today largely confined to Mongolia
d. Mongol Empire was the last great nomadic state
B. From Temujin to Chinggis Khan: The Rise of the Mongol Empire
1. Temujin (1162–1227) created the Mongol Empire
2. Mongols before Temujin were unstable collection of feuding tribes and clans
3. Temujin’s rise
a. father was a minor chieftain, but was murdered before Temujin turned ten
39
b. Temujin’s mother held family together after they were deserted by the clan
c. when Temujin grew up, he drew together a small following of friends, allied with a more
powerful tribal leader
d. shifting series of alliances, betrayals, military victories
e. won a reputation as a great leader
4. 1206: Mongol tribal assembly recognized Temujin as Chinggis Khan (“universal ruler”)
5. Chinggis Khan then began expansion to hold his followers together
a. major attack on China in 1209 started 50-year Mongol world war
b. Chinggis Khan, Ogodei, Mongke, and Khubilai created an empire that included China, Korea,
Central Asia, Russia, much of Middle East, and parts of Eastern Europe
c. setbacks marked outer limits of Mongol Empire
C. Explaining the Mongol Moment
1.
2.
3.
4.
Mongol Empire grew without any grand scheme
by the time of his death, Chinggis Khan saw conquests as a mission to unite the whole world
Mongols were vastly outnumbered by their enemies
Mongol success was due to their well-led, organized, disciplined army
a. military units of 10, 100, 1,000, and 10,000 warriors
b. conquered tribes were broken up and scattered among units
c. tribalism was also weakened by creation of imperial guard
d. all members of a unit were killed if any deserted in battle
e. leaders shared the hardships of their men
f. elaborate tactics: encirclement, retreat, deception
g. vast numbers of conquered peoples were incorporated into army
5. Mongol reputation for brutality and destructiveness
a. those who resisted were destroyed
b. kingdom of Khwarizm murdered Mongol envoys
6. ability to mobilize resources
a. elaborate census taking and systematic taxation
b. good system of relay stations for communication and trade
c. centralized bureaucracy began
d. encouraged commerce
e. gave lower administrative posts to Chinese and Muslim officials
f. practiced religious toleration
IV. Encountering the Mongols: Comparing Three Cases
A. China and the Mongols
1. Mongol conquest of China was difficult, took from 1209 to 1279
2. began in northern China (ruled by dynasties of nomadic origin), was vastly destructive
3. conquest of southern China (ruled by Song dynasty) was far less violent
a. more interest in accommodation of local populace
b. landowners were guaranteed their estates in return for support
4. Mongols unified a divided China, made many believe that the Mongols had been granted the
Mandate of Heaven
5. Mongols didn’t know how to govern an agricultural society, so they used many Chinese practices
a. gave themselves a Chinese dynastic title, the Yuan (“great beginnings”)
b. built a new capital—Khanbalik (“city of the khan”; now Beijing)
40
6. Khubilai Khan (r. 1271–1294) had a set of ancestral tablets made
7. still, Mongol rule was harsh, exploitative, and foreign
a. Mongols did not become Chinese
b. “Forbidden City” in the capital was set up like the steppes
c. relied heavily on foreigners for administration, rather than the traditional administrative system
d. few Mongols learned Chinese
e. Mongol law discriminated against the Chinese
f. Mongol women were shockingly free by Chinese standards
8. by 1368, rebellions had forced the Mongols out of China
B. Persia and the Mongols
1. conquest of Persia: first invasion led by Chinggis Khan 1219–1221; second assault under his
grandson Hulegu 1251–1258
2. massive impact of invasion
a. very destructive
b. shook faith: how could Muslims be savaged so badly by infidels?
c. sacking of Baghdad in 1258 ended the Abbasid caliphate
d. profound damage to Persian/Iraqi agriculture
e. increase in wine and silk production
3. Mongols were transformed far more in Persia than in China
a. extensive use of Persian bureaucracy
b. Ghazan (r. 1295–1304) tried to repair some of their earlier damage
c. Mongols in Persia converted to Islam on a large scale
d. Mongol elites learned some Persian
e. some Mongols took up agriculture
4. Mongol dynasty collapsed in 1330s
C. Russia and the Mongols
1. Mongol devastation of Russia 1237–1240
a. Russia was a number of independent principalities
b. could not unite against Mongol threat
c. destruction of cities, widespread slaughter, and deportation of skilled workers
2. Russia was integrated into Mongol Empire as the Kipchak Khanate (Russians called it the “Khanate
of the Golden Horde”)
a. but Mongols did not occupy Russia
i. remained on steppes north of Black and Caspian seas
ii. collected tribute and heavy taxes; also raided for slaves
3. some Russian princes and the Russian Orthodox Church flourished
4. Moscow became primary tribute-collector for the Mongols
5. Mongol rulers of Russia were far less assimilated or influenced
6. Russian princes adopted Mongol weapons, diplomatic rituals, court practices, tax system, and
military draft
a. Moscow became the core of a new Russian state
b. used the Mongol mounted courier service
7. Russians broke free of Mongol rule by the end of the fifteenth century
V. The Mongol Empire as a Eurasian Network
A. Toward a World Economy
41
1.
2.
3.
4.
Mongols produced little for distant markets; were not active traders
but they promoted international commerce as source of tax revenue
made it relatively safe to travel across Central Asia
Mongol trading circuit was central to larger Afro-Eurasian commercial network
B. Diplomacy on a Eurasian Scale
1. Mongol encroachment into Eastern Europe led both the pope and European rulers to dispatch
diplomatic missions to the Mongols
a. had no diplomatic or religious consequences
b. but brought back valuable information about the East
2. Persian and Chinese courts developed close relationships
C. Cultural Exchange in the Mongol Realm
1.
2.
3.
4.
thousands of craftsmen and educated people were forcibly relocated by the Mongols
Mongol religious tolerance and support of merchants drew foreigners
the Mongol capital of Karakorum was a cosmopolitan center
lively exchange of ideas and techniques
a. westward flow of Chinese technology and art (painting, printing, gunpowder weapons, compass
navigation, high-temperature furnaces, medical techniques, etc.)
b. Muslim astronomy spread to China
c. circulation of plants and crops
d. Europe benefited particularly from new contact with Asia
D. The Plague: A Eurasian Pandemic
1. the plague (a.k.a. pestilence, Black Death) spread across trade routes of the Mongol Empire in early
fourteenth century
a. probably originated in Central Asia
b. carried by rodents and transmitted by fleas
2. the plague broke out in northeastern China in 1331
a. reached Western Europe by 1347
b. Mongol siege of Caffa (in the Crimea) in 1346: Mongols catapulted plague-infected corpses into
city
c. massive death toll
d. periodic returns of the plague for centuries
3. India and sub-Saharan Africa were much less affected
4. best information about the plague’s impact comes from Europe
a. the plague was described in apocalyptic terms
b. Jews blamed for the plague; many fled to Poland
c. longer-term changes in European society
5. the plague was a primary reason for the breakdown of the Mongol Empire in fourteenth to fifteenth
centuries
a. with population contraction, volume of trade was reduced
b. by 1350, the Mongol Empire was in disarray
c. within a century, Mongols had lost control of China, Persia, and Russia
d. the Central Asian trade route largely closed
6. disruption of land routes to the east encouraged Europeans to seek trade routes by sea
a. European naval technology gave them an advantage
42
b. similarity of sixteenth-century Europeans to Mongols: people on the periphery who were
economically less developed and forcibly plundered wealthier civilizations
VI. Reflections: Changing Images of Nomadic Peoples
A. Nomads have often received “bad press” in history books.
1.
2.
3.
4.
only mentioned in regard to their destruction of established civilizations
educated, sedentary peoples have feared and usually despised nomads
nomads were usually illiterate, so we don’t have their perspective
agricultural societies eventually won out
B. There have been recent efforts to present a more balanced view.
1. emphasize what nomads achieved as well as what they destroyed
2. the total wars and genocides of the twentieth century have made people less judgmental toward the
Mongols
3. historians are shaped by their times
KEY TERMS
“age-set”: Among the Masai, a group of boys united by a common initiation ceremony, who then moved
together through the various “age-grades,” or ranks, of Masai life.
*Black Death: Name later given to the massive plague pandemic that swept through Eurasia beginning in 1331;
it is usually regarded as an outbreak of bubonic plague.
*Chinggis Khan: Title meaning “universal ruler” that was given to the Mongol leader Temujin in 1206 after he
united the Mongols. (pron. CHENG-iz KAHN)
“fictive kinship”: Common form of tribal bonding in nomadic societies in which allies are designated and
treated as blood relatives.
Ghazan Khan: Il-khan (subordinate khan) of Persia who ruled from 1295 to 1304; he is noted for his efforts to
repair the Mongol damage to Persia. (pron. HAZ-zan KAHN)
Hulegu Khan: Grandson of Chinggis Khan (ca. 1217–1265) who became the first il-khan (subordinate khan) of
Persia. (pron. hoo-LAY-goo KAHN)
Karakorum: Capital of the Mongol Empire. (pron. kah-rah-KOR-um)
khagan: Supreme ruler of a Turkic nomadic confederation. (pron. KAH-gahn)
Khanbalik: The “city of the khan,” founded as a new capital city for the Mongols after their conquest of China;
now the city of Beijing. (pron. kahn-BAL-ik)
*Khubilai Khan: Grandson of Chinggis Khan who ruled China from 1271 to 1294. (pron. KOO-bihlie KAHN)
Kipchak Khanate: Name given to Russia by the Mongols after they conquered it and incorporated it into the
Mongol Empire in the mid-thirteenth century; known to Russians as the “Khanate of the Golden Horde.”
(pron. KIP-chak KAHN-ate)
Masai: Nomadic cattle-keeping people of what is now Kenya and Tanzania. (pron. mah-SIGH)
Modun: Great ruler of the Xiongnu Empire (r. 210–174 B.C.E.) who created a centralized and hierarchical political
system. (pron. moe-DOON)
Mongol world war, the: Term used to describe half a century of military campaigns, massive killing, and
empire building pursued by Chinggis Khan and his successors in Eurasia after 1209.
pastoralism: Way of life in which people depend on the herding of domesticated animals for their food.
*Temujin: Birth name of the Mongol leader better known as Chinggis Khan (1162–1227). (pron. TEM-uh-jin)
Turks: Turkic speakers from Central Asia, originally nomads, who spread westward into the Near East and into
India; they created a series of nomadic empires between 552 and 965 C.E. but had a more lasting impact on
world history when they became dominant in the Islamic heartland and founded a series of states and
empires there.
*Xiongnu: People of the Mongolian steppe lands north of China who formed a large-scale nomadic empire in
the third and second centuries B.C.E. (pron. SHE-OONG-noo)
*Yuan dynasty: Mongol dynasty that ruled China from 1271 to 1368; its name means “great beginnings.”
(pron. yu-wen)
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Margin Review Questions
1. In what ways did pastoral societies differ from their agricultural counterparts?
2. In what ways did pastoral societies interact with their agricultural neighbors?
3. In what ways did the Xiongnu, Arabs, and Turks make an impact on world history?
4. Did the history and society of the East African Masai people parallel that of Asian nomads?
5. Identify the major steps in the rise of the Mongol Empire.
6. What accounts for the political and military success of the Mongols?
7. How did Mongol rule change China? In what ways were the Mongols changed by China?
8. How was Mongol rule in Persia different from that in China?
44
9. What was distinctive about the Russian experience of Mongol rule?
10. In what ways did the Mongol Empire contribute to the globalization of the Eurasian world?
11. Disease changes societies. How might this argument apply to the plague?
Big Picture Questions
1. Prior to the rise of the Mongols, in what ways had pastoral peoples been significant in world history?
2. What accounts for the often negative attitudes of settled societies toward the pastoral peoples living on their
borders? Why have historians often neglected pastoral peoples’ role in world history?
3. In what ways did the Mongol Empire resemble other empires, and in what ways did it differ from them? Why
did it last a relatively short time?
45
4. In what different ways did Mongol rule affect the Islamic world, Russia, China, and Europe?
5. How would you define both the immediate and the long-term significance of the Mongols in world history?
6. How would you assess the perspective of this chapter toward the Mongols? Does it strike you as negative
and critical of the Mongols, as bending over backward to portray them in a positive light, or as a balanced
presentation?
CHAPTER 13 OUTLINE
I.
Opening Vignette
A. In 2005, China celebrated the 600th anniversary of the initial launching
of the country’s great maritime expeditions in 1405.
1. Admiral Zheng He had commanded a fleet of over 300 ships carrying 27,000 people that sailed as far
as the East African coast
2. Why is Columbus so much more remembered?
B. The fifteenth century was a major turning point in world history.
1. Zheng He’s voyages did not have world-historical consequences
2. Columbus’s voyages did
C. This chapter’s purpose is to review the human story up to the sixteenth
century and to establish a baseline against which to measure the
transformations of the period 1500–2000.
II. The Shapes of Human Communities
A. In 1500, the world still had all types of societies, from bands of gatherers
and hunters to empires, but the balance between them was different than
it had been in 500.
46
B. Paleolithic Persistence
1. gathering and hunting societies (Paleolithic peoples) still existed throughout all of Australia, much of
Siberia, the arctic coastlands, and parts of Africa and the Americas
2. they had changed over time, interacted with their neighbors
3. example of Australian gatherers and hunters
a. some 250 separate groups
b. had assimilated outside technologies and ideas, e.g., outrigger canoes, fish hooks, netting
techniques, artistic styles, rituals, mythological concepts
c. had not adopted agriculture
d. manipulated their environment through “firestick farming”
e. exchanged goods over hundreds of miles
f. developed sophisticated sculpture and rock painting
4. northwest coast of North America developed very differently
a. abundant environment allowed development of a complex gathering and hunting culture
b. had permanent villages, economic specialization, hierarchies, chiefdoms, food storage
5. elsewhere, farming had advanced and absorbed Paleolithic lands
C. Agricultural Village Societies
1. predominated in much of North America, in Africa south of the equator, in parts of the Amazon
River basin and Southeast Asia
2. their societies mostly avoided oppressive authority, class inequalities, and seclusion of women
typical of other civilizations
3. example of forested region in present-day southern Nigeria, where three different political patterns
developed
a. Yoruba people created city-states, each ruled by a king (oba), many of whom were women and
who performed both religious and political functions
b. kingdom of Benin: centralized territorial state ruled by a warrior king named Ewuare
c. Igbo peoples: dense population and trade, but purposely rejected kingship and state building
d. Yoruba, Benin, and Igbo peoples traded among themselves and beyond
e. the region shared common artistic traditions
f. all shifted from matrilineal to patrilineal system
4. in what is now central New York State, agricultural village societies underwent substantial change in
the centuries before 1500
a. Iroquois speakers had become fully agricultural (maize and beans) by around 1300
b. population growth, emergence of distinct peoples
c. rise of warfare as key to male prestige (perhaps since women did the farming, so males were no
longer needed for getting food)
d. warfare triggered the creation of the Iroquois confederation
e. some European colonists appreciated Iroquois values of social equality and personal freedom
(even for women)
D. Herding Peoples
1. Turkic warrior Timur (Tamerlane) tried to restore the Mongol Empire ca. 1400
a. his army devastated Russia, Persia, and India
b. Timur died in 1405, while preparing invasion of China
c. his successors kept control of the area between Persia and Afghanistan for a century
d. Timur’s conquest was the last great military success of Central Asian nomads
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2. in the following centuries, the steppe nomads’ homeland was swallowed up in expanding Russian
and Chinese empires
3. African pastoralists remained independent from established empires for several centuries longer
(until late nineteenth century)
4. example of the Fulbe (West Africa’s largest pastoral society)
a. gradual eastward migration after 1000 C.E.
b. usually lived in small communities among agriculturalists
c. gradually adopted Islam
d. some moved to towns and became noted religious leaders
e. series of jihads in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries created new states ruled by the Fulbe
III. Civilizations of the Fifteenth Century: Comparing China and Europe
A. By the fifteenth century C.E., a majority of the world’s population lived
within a major civilization.
B. Ming Dynasty China
1. China had been badly disrupted by Mongol rule and the plague
2. recovery under the Ming dynasty (1368–1644)
a. effort to eliminate all signs of foreign rule
b. promotion of Confucian learning
c. Emperor Yongle (r. 1402–1422) sponsored an 11,000-volume Encyclopedia summarizing all the
wisdom of the past
3. reestablished the civil service examination system
4. created a highly centralized government
a. great power was given to court eunuchs
b. state restored land to cultivation, constructed waterworks, planted perhaps a billion trees
c. was perhaps the best-governed and most prosperous civilization of the fifteenth century
5. maritime ventures
a. Chinese sailors and traders had become important in the South China Sea and in Southeast Asian
ports in the eleventh century
b. Emperor Yongle commissioned a massive fleet; launched in 1405
c. Chinese government abruptly stopped the voyages in 1433
i. many had regarded them as waste of resources
d. Chinese merchants and craftsmen continued to settle and trade in Japan, Philippines, Taiwan, and
Southeast Asia, but without government support
C. European Comparisons: State Building and Cultural Renewal
1. a similar process of demographic recovery, consolidation, cultural flowering, and European
expansion took place in Western Europe
2. European population began to rise again ca. 1450
3. state building, but fragmented, with
many independent and competitive
states
4. the Renaissance: reclamation of classical Greek traditions
a. began in the commercial cities of Italy ca. 1350–1500
b. “returning to the sources” as a cultural standard to imitate
c. turn to greater naturalism in art (e.g., Leonardo da Vinci, Raphael, Michelangelo)
d. “humanist” scholars explored secular topics in addition to religious matters
48
D. European Comparisons: Maritime Voyaging
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Portuguese voyages of discovery began in 1415
1492: Columbus reached the Americas
1497–1498: Vasco da Gama sailed around Africa to India
European voyages were very small compared to Chinese ones
unlike the Chinese voyages, Europeans were seeking wealth, converts, allies in Crusades against
Islam
6. Europeans used violence to carve out empires
7. Chinese voyages ended; European ones kept escalating
a. no overarching political authority in Europe to end the voyages
b. rivalry between states encouraged more exploration
c. much of European elite interested in overseas expansion
d. China had everything it needed; Europeans wanted the greater riches of the East
e. China’s food production could expand internally; European system expanded by acquiring new
lands
IV. Civilizations of the Fifteenth Century: The Islamic World
A. The long-fragmented Islamic world crystallized into four major states or
empires.
B. In the Islamic Heartland: The Ottoman and Safavid Empires
1. Ottoman Empire lasted from fourteenth to early twentieth century
a. huge territory: Anatolia, eastern Europe, much of Middle East, North African coast, lands around
Black Sea
b. sultans claimed the title “caliph” and the legacy of the Abbasids
c. effort to bring new unity to the Islamic world
2. Ottoman aggression toward Christian lands
a. fall of Constantinople in 1453
b. 1529 siege of Vienna
c. Europeans feared Turkish expansion
3. Safavid Empire emerged in Persia from a Sufi religious order
a. empire was established shortly after 1500
b. imposed Shia Islam as the official religion of the state
4. Sunni Ottoman Empire and Shia Safavid Empire fought periodically between 1534 and 1639
C. On the Frontiers of Islam: The Songhay and Mughal Empires
1. Songhay Empire rose in West Africa in the second half of the fifteenth century
a. Islam was limited largely to urban elites
b. Sonni Ali (r. 1465–1492) followed Muslim practices, but was also regarded as a magician with an
invisibility charm
c. Songhay Empire was a major center of Islamic learning/trade
2. Mughal Empire in India was created by Turkic group that invaded India in 1526
a. over the sixteenth century, Mughals gained control of most of India
b. effort to create a partnership between Hindus and Muslims
c. Hindu kingdom of Vijayanagara continued to flourish in the south
D. The age of these four great Muslim empires is sometimes called a “second
flowering of Islam.”
1. new age of energy, prosperity, and cultural brilliance
49
2. spread of Islam to new areas, such as Southeast Asia
3. rise of Malacca as a sign of the times—became a major Muslim port city in the fifteenth century
a. Malaccan Islam blended with Hindu/Buddhist traditions
b. was a center for Islamic learning
V Civilizations of the Fifteenth Century: The Americas
A. Both the Aztec and the Inca empires were established by once-marginal
peoples who took over and absorbed older cultures.
B. The Aztec Empire
1. The Mexica were a seminomadic people who migrated southward from northern Mexico
a. established themselves on an island in Lake Texcoco by 1325
b. built themselves up and established capital city of Tenochtitlán
2. Triple Alliance (1428): Mexica and two other city-states united
a. launched a program of military conquest
b. conquered much of Mesoamerica in under a century
c. Aztec rulers claimed descent from earlier peoples
3. Aztec Empire was a loosely structured, unstable conquest state
a. population of 5–6 million
b. conquered peoples paid regular tribute
c. Tenochtitlán had 150,000–200,000 people
d. local and long-distance trade on a vast scale
4. trade included slaves, many intended for sacrifice
a. human sacrifice much more prominent in Aztec Empire than in earlier Mesoamerica
b. Tlacaelel is credited with crystallizing ideology of state, giving human sacrifice such importance
5. created an important philosophical/poetic tradition focused on the fragility of human life
C. The Inca Empire
1. Quechua speakers established the Inca Empire along the length of the Andes
a. empire was 2,500 miles long
b. around 10 million subjects
2. Inca Empire was more bureaucratic, centralized than the Aztecs
a. emperor was an absolute ruler regarded as divine
b. state theoretically owned all land and resources
c. around 80 provinces, each with an Inca governor
d. subjects grouped into hierarchical units of people (10, 50, 100, 500, etc.), at least in the central
regions
e. inspectors checked up on provincial officials
f. population data was recorded on quipus (knotted cords)
g. massive resettlement program moved much of the population
3. Incas attempted cultural integration
a. leaders of conquered peoples had to learn Quechua
b. sons were taken to Cuzco (the capital) for acculturation
c. subjects had to acknowledge major Inca deities
4. almost everyone had to perform labor service (mita) for the Inca state
a. work on state farms, herding, mining, military service, state construction
b. also production of goods for the state
c. state provided elaborate feasts in return
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5. the state played a large role in distribution of goods
D. Both the Inca and Aztec civilizations practiced “gender parallelism.”
1. women and men operated in “separate but equivalent spheres”
2. parallel religious cults for women and men
3. parallel hierarchies of female and male political officials (especially among Incas)
4. women’s household tasks were not regarded as inferior
5. still, men had top positions in political and religious life
6. glorification of the military probably undermined gender parallelism
7. Inca ruler and his wife governed jointly, were descended from sun and moon, respectively
VI. Webs of Connection
A. Large-scale political systems brought together culturally different people.
B. Religion both united and divided far-flung peoples.
1. common religious culture of Christendom, but divided into Roman Catholicism and Eastern
Orthodoxy
2. Buddhism linked people in China, Korea, Tibet, Japan, and parts of Southeast Asia
3. Islam was particularly good at bringing together its people
a. the annual hajj
b. yet conflict within the umma persisted
C. Patterns of trade were very evident in the fifteenth century
1. trade was going on almost everywhere
2. the balance of Afro-Eurasian trade was changing
a. the Silk Road network was contracting
b. ocean trade in the west Atlantic/Indian Ocean picked up
VII. A Preview of Coming Attractions: Looking Ahead to the Modern Era (1500–2000)
A. No fifteenth-century connections were truly global.
1. those came only with European expansion in the sixteenth century
2. 1500–2000: inextricable linking of the worlds of Afro-Eurasia, the Americas, and Pacific Oceania
B. “Modern” human society emerged first in Europe in the nineteenth
century and then throughout the world.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
core feature: industrialization
accompanied by massive population increase
societies favored holders of urban wealth over rural landowning elites
states became more powerful and intrusive
opening up of public and political life to more of the population
self-conscious departure from tradition
the modernity revolution was as important as the Agricultural Revolution
a. introduced new divisions and conflicts, new economic inequalities
b. destruction of older patterns of human life
C. The prominence of European peoples on the global stage grew over the
last 500 years.
1. after 1500, Western Europe became the most innovative, prosperous, powerful, imitated part of the
world
2. spread of European languages and Christian religion throughout the world
3. initiated the Scientific Revolution and the Industrial Revolution
51
4. origin of modern -isms: liberalism, nationalism, feminism, socialism
5. rest of the world was confronted by powerful, intrusive Europeans
VIII. Reflections: What If? Chance and Contingency in World History
A. Might history have been shaped, at least at certain points, by coincidence,
chance, or the decisions of a few?
1. What if Ogodei Khan hadn’t died in 1241 and the Mongols had continued their advance into Europe?
2. What if China had continued maritime exploration after 1433?
3. What if the Ottomans had taken Vienna in 1529?
B. It’s worthwhile to sometimes take a “what if” approach to history.
KEY TERMS
*Aztec Empire: Major state that developed in what is now Mexico in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries;
dominated by the seminomadic Mexica, who had migrated into the region from northern Mexico.
Benin: Territorial state that emerged by the fifteenth century in the region that is now southern Nigeria; ruled
by a warrior king who consolidated his state through widespread conquest. (pron. be-NEEN)
“chosen women”: Among the Incas, girls who were removed from their homes at a young age, trained in Inca
ideology, and set to producing corn beer and textiles; they later were given as wives to distinguished men or
sent to serve as priestesses.
*Columbus, Christopher: Genoese mariner (1451–1506) commissioned by Spain to search for a new trading
route to Asia; in 1492 he found America instead.
*Constantinople, seizure of (1453): Constantinople, the capital and almost the only outpost left of the
Byzantine Empire, fell to the army of the Ottoman sultan Mehmed II “the Conqueror” in 1453, an event
that marked the end of Christian Byzantium.
“firestick farming”: A manipulation of their environment by the Paleolithic peoples of Australia that involved
controlled burns to clear underbrush.
Fulbe: West Africa’s largest pastoral society, whose members gradually adopted Islam and took on a religious
leadership role that led to the creation of a number of new states. (pron. FULL-bay)
*Gama,Vasco da: Portuguese explorer (ca. 1460–1524) whose 1497–1498 voyage was the first European venture
to reach India by circling the tip of South Africa. (pron.VAS-coe dah GAHM-ah)
*Huitzilopochtli: Patron deity of the Aztec empire, associated with the sun. (pron. wheat-zeel-oh-POSHT-lee)
*Hundred Years’ War: Major conflict between France and England (1337–1453) over rival claims to territory
in France; the two states’ need to finance the war helped encourage their administrative development.
Igbo: People whose lands were east of the Niger River in what is now southern Nigeria in West Africa; they
built a complex society that rejected kingship and centralized statehood and relied on other institutions to
provide social coherence. (pron. EE-boh)
*Inca Empire: The Western Hemisphere’s largest imperial state in the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries;
built by a relatively small community of Quechua-speaking people (the Inca), the empire stretched some
2,500 miles along the Andes Mountains, which run nearly the entire length of the west coast of South
America, and contained perhaps 10 million subjects.
*Iroquois League of Five Nations: Confederation of five Iroquois peoples in what is now New York State; the
loose alliance was based on the Great Law of Peace, an agreement to settle disputes peacefully through a
council of clan leaders. (pron. IR-oh-kwoy)
Malacca: Muslim port city that came to prominence on the waterway between Sumatra and Malaya in the
fifteenth century C.E.; it was the springboard for the spread of a syncretic form of Islam throughout the
region. (pron. mah-LAH-kah)
Mexica: Seminomadic people of northern Mexico who by 1325 had established themselves on a small island in
Lake Texcoco, where they built their capital city, Tenochtitlán; the Mexica were the central architects of the
Aztec Empire. (pron. meh-SHE-ca)
*Ming dynasty: Chinese dynasty (1368–1644) that succeeded the Yuan dynasty of the Mongols; noted for its
return to traditional Chinese ways and restoration of the land after the destructiveness of the Mongols.
52
*Mughal Empire: One of the most successful empires of India, a state founded by an Islamized Turkic group
that invaded India in 1526; the Mughals’ rule was noted for their efforts to create partnerships between
Hindus and Muslims. (pron. MOO-guhl)
*Nezahualcoyotl: A poet and king of the city-state of Texcoco, which was part of the Aztec Empire (1402–
1472). (pron. nes-ah-wahl-koh-YOHT-l)
*Ottoman Empire: Major Islamic state centered on Anatolia that came to include the Balkans, the Near East,
and much of North Africa.
Paleolithic persistence: The continuance of gathering and hunting societies in substantial areas of the world
despite millennia of agricultural advance.
pochteca: Professional merchants in the Aztec Empire whose wealth often elevated them to elite status. (pron.
poch-TAY-kah)
*Renaissance, European: A “rebirth” of classical learning that is most often associated with the cultural
blossoming of Italy in the period 1350–1500 and that included not just a rediscovery of Greek learning but
also major developments in art, as well as growing secularism in society.
*Safavid Empire: Major Turkic empire of Persia founded in the early sixteenth century, notable for it efforts to
convert its populace to Shia Islam. (pron. SAH-fah-vid)
*Songhay Empire: Major Islamic state of West Africa that formed in the second half of the fifteenth century.
(pron. song-GAH-ee)
*Tenochtitlán: The metropolitan capital of the Aztec Empire, with a population of 150,000–200,000 people.
(pron. the-noch-TIT-lan)
*Timbuktu: Great city of West Africa, noted in the fourteenth–sixteenth centuries as a center of Islamic
scholarship. (pron. tim-buk-TOO)
*Timur: Turkic warrior (1336–1405), also known as Tamerlane, whose efforts to restore the Mongol Empire
devastated much of Persia, Russia, and India. (pron. tem-EER)
Triple Alliance: 1428 agreement between the Mexica and two other nearby city-states that launched the Aztec
Empire.
Yongle: Chinese emperor (r. 1402–1422) during the Ming dynasty who was a key figure in the restoration of
China to greatness and who commissioned an enormous fleet to spread awareness of Chinese superiority to
much of Asia and eastern Africa. (pron. yoong-LAW)
*Zheng He: Great Chinese admiral (1371–1433) who commanded a fleet of more than 300 ships in a series of
voyages of contact and exploration that began in 1405. (pron. jung huh)
Margin Review Questions
1. In what ways did the gathering and hunting people of Australia differ from those of the northwest coast of
North America?
2. What kinds of changes were transforming West African agricultural village societies and those of the
Iroquois as the fifteenth century dawned?
53
3. What role did Central Asian and West African pastoralists play in their respective regions?
4. How would you define the major achievements of Ming dynasty China?
5. What political and cultural differences stand out in the histories of fifteenth-century China and Western
Europe? What similarities are apparent?
6. In what ways did European maritime voyaging in the fifteenth century differ from that of China? What
accounts for these differences?
7. What differences can you identify among the four major empires in the Islamic world of the fifteenth and
sixteenth centuries?
8. What distinguished the Aztec and Inca empires from each other?
9. How did Aztec religious thinking support the empire?
10. In what ways did Inca authorities seek to integrate their vast domains?
54
11. In what different ways did the peoples of the fifteenth century interact with one another?
Big Picture Questions
1. Assume for the moment that the Chinese had not ended their maritime voyages in 1433. How might the
subsequent development of world history have been different? What value is there in asking this kind of “what
if ” or counterfactual question?
2. How does this chapter distinguish among the various kinds of societies that comprised the world of the
fifteenth century? What other ways of categorizing the world’s peoples might work as well or better?
3. What would surprise a knowledgeable observer from 500 C.E., were he or she to make a global tour in the
fifteenth century? What features of that earlier world might still be recognizable?
4. What predictions about the future might a global traveler of the fifteenth century reasonably have made?
Would it depend on precisely when those predictions were made?
55
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