“Plains and Deserts”
Period 3: Regional & Transregional Interactions
AP World History
Name ____________________________________________________ Period _______ Date ___________________________
Southernization | Lynda Shaffer
Directions: Read and highlight the text. You should focus
on the innovations and resources from each region (Arabia,
India, China, and Southeast Asia).
The term southernization is used to refer to agricultural and
technological innovations that first occurred in South and
Southeast Asia and spread from there to other places
around the Eastern Hemisphere. These developments
would bring dramatic change to China, the Muslim
Caliphates, and even to the Christian Mediterranean and
Africa. In short, the term reflects the influential nature of
South and Southeast Asian history on the rest of the world.
value system of writing numbers superior to all others. With
the zero, Indians were able to perform calculations rapidly
and accurately, and to perform much more complicated
calculations than their Eurasian counterparts. These
numerals and the mathematics that the Indians developed
were so superior that they are now universal.
Indian Beginnings
The oldest and arguably most influential Indian innovation
was the domestication of cotton and the production of
cotton textiles for export.
Cotton was first domesticated
in the Indus River Valley some
time between 2300 and 1760
BCE. Even during this early
period, Indus River Valley
merchants are known to have
lived in Mesopotamia, where
they sold cotton textiles. By
the classical era, Indian cotton
textiles permeated the Silk
Road trade networks and
could be found in every major
classical city. The diffusion of
Indian cotton textiles grew so extensively during the postclassical era, that one textile expert claims that “India
clothed the world.”
Southeast Asian Beginnings
There is no doubt that the most influential mariners of the
classical, and post-classical world were the Malay people
who lived in the region occupied by modern day Malaysia,
Indonesia, Vietnam, and the Philippines. By 400 CE, Malay
mariners were riding the monsoon winds of the Indian and
Pacific Oceans without a compass and without sight of land.
They navigated these waters by the wind and stars, by cloud
formations, the color of the water, the swell and wave
patterns of the oceans, and the behavior of the seabirds.
There is little debate
then,
that
Malay
mariners were the
most influential sailors
of the classical and
post-classical world.
For example, they
used lug sails, which
were square in shape
and mounted so that
they could pivot. This
made it possible for
Malay sailors to tack
against the wind, that
is, to sail into the wind by going diagonally against it, first
one way, and then the other. This technology would
become very influential in the Indian Ocean world.
Another influential Indian innovation was the cultivation and
crystallization of sugar. There is considerable disagreement
about where sugar was first domesticated. Some believe
that the plant was native to Southeast Asia, others argue it
was first domesticated in Southern China. Sugar however,
did not become an important item of trade until the Indians
discovered how to turn the sugarcane juice into granulated
crystals that could easily be stored and transported.
Spices only grow in the humid climates of the equator. The
fine spices—cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and mace—come
from the Moluccas. Up until 1621 was the only place in the
world that produced the fine spices in commercial
quantities. The Moluccas producers would grow their
aromatic surpluses and transport them to the island of Java
where the spices would then make their way into the
international market.
Indians also laid the foundation for modern mathematics
during the time of the Gupta. Arabic numerals actually came
from Indian (Arabs call them Hindi numerals). The most
significant feature of the Indian system was the invention of
zero as a number concept. The Indian zero made the place-
Champa rice came from the Malay Kingdom of Champa in
modern day Vietnam and is drought resistant and fast
ripening. With fast ripening rice seeds, farmers can double
their yearly production of the staple crop.
“Plains and Deserts”
The Southernization of China
Southern Asian developments began to have a dramatic
impact on China after about 350 CE. The Han dynasty had
fallen in 220 CE and for 350 years, China descended into a
period of political instability and social unrest. During these
years, Buddhism (an Indian faith) became increasingly
important in China. By 589 then, when the Sui dynasty
reunited the empire, the process of Southernization had
already begun. This process of Southern Asian influence on
China became even more pronounced during the Tang and
Song dynasties.
The Chinese first encountered Champa rice when Han Wudi
colonized Champa (Vietnam) in the 1st century BCE.
However its impact would not be felt until the post-classical
era. With the fast ripening variety, post-classical Chinese
farmers could produce two rice crops per year. Also,
because Champa rice grew well in high latitudes, cultivation
spread up the hillsides as the Chinese began systematically
terracing. This increased the amount of land that could be
cultivated tenfold and led to the doubling of the Chinese
population by the twelfth centuries. China was well on its
way to being the most urbanized and cosmopolitan society
of the post-classical world.
Before the process of southernization, the northern Huang
He region of China had always been the economic and
political center. The Imperial capital was always in the north
and the south was always perceived as a frontier area. But
southernization changed this situation dramatically. By 600
CE, southern China was quickly becoming the most
prosperous part of the empire. It was here, along the
southern coast where the fast ripening Champa rice was
grown and it was here where China’s southern ports
participated in overseas commerce. The most telling
evidence of China’s recognition of the significance of the
southern region is the construction of the Grand Canal which
was completed in 610 CE by the Sui Dynasty. This
engineering feat connected the northern Huang He to the
Southern Yangtze. In other words, the Grand Canal
connected the economically remote regions of the north to
the abundant southern Chinese rice paddies and
exceedingly prosperous Chinese ports.
Further evidence of this comes in the Chinese invention of
the compass or as they called it the “south pointing needle.”
Why was it pointing south? The needle pointed towards the
coveted spice markets of Java and the thriving trade
networks of the Indian Ocean Basin.
Period 3: Regional & Transregional Interactions
AP World History
The Southernization of the Islamic Caliphates
Like China, the process of southernization had a dramatic
impact on the Islamic Caliphates. During post-classical times
there was a vibrant Islamic presence in the Indian Ocean
Basin. Here Muslim mariners spent much time observing
Malay ships equipped with lug sails. They would have seen
how effectively these ships navigated around the monsoon
winds in Indian Ocean waters. Due to the way the sails were
mounted, lug sails appeared triangular in shape. It is argued
then, that the Arab invention of the triangular lateen sail was
an adaptation of the Malay lug sail. The Arab lateen sail
would go on to not only transform the Indian Ocean world,
but also the Mediterranean and Atlantic worlds as well.
Equipped with these effective sea-going vessels, Islamic
mariners were responsible for moving many Southern crops
to the Middle East, North Africa, and Islamic Spain. The
most important of these were sugar and cotton. From India,
Arab mariners brought sugar cane to the Fertile Crescent.
From there, Muslim cultivators transported the sweet crop
to the Mediterranean. Islamic slave traders were also the first
to transport large numbers of African slaves across the
Sahara to work on the vast sugar plantations of the Middle
East and Mediterranean. This would set a precedent that
would forever alter the history of Africa and the world.
Cotton also had a dramatic effect on the Islamic Caliphates.
From Iran, to Central Asia, to Spain and numerous
Mediterranean Islands, cotton plantations and textile
industries sprang up for both local and foreign markets.
The introduction of other Indian and Southeast Asian crops
to the Middle East had dramatic effects on the Islamic world.
Prior to the process of southernization, Muslim farmers
planted in the fall to take advantage of autumn rains and
harvested in the spring. In the heat of the summer months
the fields lay fallow (or empty). But the new Indian and
Southeast Asian crops preferred the heat of the summer,
and the Abbasid farmers began to use their fields
throughout the year. Just as in China, southernization led to
population growth in the Middle East as well.
Indian Mathematics followed Indian crops into the dar-alIslam. First introduced in 825 CE, Muslim mathematicians
would take the superior Hindi numerals and make
remarkable advances in algebra and trigonometry.
Questions:
1.) Explain “Southernization” in our own words.
2.) Which item do you think was the most important? Why?