HISTORICAL CONTEXT AND NARRATIVE: WHAT IS YOUR
PURPOSE? WHO IS YOUR AUDIENCE?
DEVELOPING HABITS OF MIND
#31 ON PRE-MID-TERM TEST
DOCUMENTS TO KNOW
Foundations- 600 B.C.E600 B.C.E
600 C.E
600-1450
1450-1750
1750-1900
HAMMURABI's
CODE, 1700 BCE
(BABYLON)
EPIC OF
GILGAMESH, 1700
BCE (BABYLON)
RIG VEDA, 1700
BCE (INDIA)
BOOK OF THE
DEAD, 1500 BCE
(EGYPT)
BOOK OF SONGS,
1000 BCE (CHINA
EDICT on
BUDDHISM, c. 845,
Emperor Wuzong,
(CHINA)
CHARTER of FEALTY,
1110, Monk John
(FRANCE)
1,001 ARABIAN
NIGHTS, c. 1200,
(ARABIA)
EPIC of SUNDIATA,
c. 1300 (MALI)
TRAVELS in AFRICA
& ASIA, 1354, Ibn
Battuta
(MOROCCO
GUTENBERG BIBLE,
1450, Johannes
Gutenberg
(GERMANY)
EPIC OF SUNDIATA,
c. 1450 (MALI)
95 THESES, 1517,
Martin Luther
(GERMANY)
A SHORT ACCOUNT
OF THE
DESTRUCTION OF
THE WEST INDIES,
1542, Bartolome de
las Casas (SPANISH
AMERICA)
SLAVE TRADER,
1700, WILLIAM
BOSMAN (AFRICAN
COAST)
DECLARATION of
INDEPENDENCE,
1776, Thomas
Jefferson (USA)
WEALTH of
NATIONS, 1776,
Adam Smith
(SCOTLAND)
DECLARATION of
the RIGHTS of
MAN , 1789,
National Assembly
(FRANCE)
JAMAICA LETTER,
1815, Simon Bolivar
(JAMAICA)
COMMUNIST
MANIFESTO, 1848,
Karl Marx
(GERMANY
TAO TE CHING, 550
BCE, Lao Tzu
(CHINA)
12 TABLES, 451 BCE
(ROME)
LESSONS FOR
WOMEN, 80 CE,
Ban Zhao (CHINA)
SERMON ON THE
MOUNT, 90 CE
(ROME)
CODE OF
JUSTINIAN, 529 CE,
Justinian
(BYZANTINE
REGULATE PROPERTY LAWS BETWEEN INDIVIDUALS, PEOPLE OF BABYLON, ANCIENT
MESOPOTAMIA:
• Hammurabi’s Code
TO SHOW REPENTANCE AFTER BATTLE OF KALINGA, ALL RELIGIOUS
BACKGROUNDS OF CLASSICAL INDIA, MAURYAN EMPIRE
• Asoka’s Rock Pillar Edicts
TO ILLUSTRATE ADORATION TO ALLAH AND ISLAM, MUSLIMS IN THEIR HOLY
SITE, REVERENCE FOR 1ST PILLAR OF ISLAM
• Geometric imagery on Mosques
TO UNITE ALL CHRISTIAN BROTHERS, TO FIGHT AGAINST “INFIDELS”, POPE’S
INFALLIBILITY OF CRUSADES
• Pope Urban II Council of Clermont
TO REINFORCE GOVERNMENT TO DO THEIR BEST , TO
BUREAUCRATIC(MERITOCRACY) RULE, CIVIL SERVICE IN HAN DYNASTY
• Confucian Analects
TO ENCOURAGE IDEALS OF POPULAR SOVEREIGNTY, CREOLE ELITES WHO
HATE MERCANTILISM, ATLANTIC REVOLUTIONS
• Simon Bolvar’s Jamiacan Letter
TO TEACH ATHENIAN CITIZENS MORALS AND ETHICS, THEATER GOERS,
GOLDEN AGE OF ATHENS
• Athenian Drama
TO ORALLY INTEGRATE THEMSELVES TO HISTORY, AFRICAN VILLAGES.
STATELESS SOCIETIES, TRADITIONAL AFRICA SUB-SAHARA
• Griots Tale
TO ILLUSTRATE LEVELS OF TRIBUTE TAKEN IN CONQUEST, PEOPLE OF
TENOCHTITLAN, ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL MAINTENANCE OF THE AZTEC
EMPIRE
• Codex Mendoza
TO COMPEL KING JOHN TO SHARE LEGISLATIVE POWER WITH PARLIAMENT,
MEMBERS OF NOBILITY, FEUDAL ENGLAND 1215
• Magna Carta
TO COMMUNICATE CHRISTIANITY TO AMERINDIAN, AMERINDIANS,
COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE
•
•
•
•
Letters written by Franciscan friars
Pictorial records of the Mexica
Statues produced by local artists in New Spain
Histories written in Spanish and Nahuatl
TO PROVE THE GENETIC LINK OF EARLY AMERICANS TO CLOVIS PEOPLE IN
SIBERIA, SCIENTIFIC HISTORIANS, THE DEBATE OVER EARLY HUMAN
MIGRATIONS TO THE AMERICAS
• D.N.A
TO LEGITIMIZE THE ABSOLUTE POWER OF KINGS, KINGS, NOBILITY AND
SUBJECTS, AGE OF ABSOLUTISM 1450-1750
• Thomas Hobbes “Leviathan”
TO REINFORCE THE EARLIER TENETS OF CASTE, PEOPLE OF HINDU FAITH,
GUPTA’S ESTABLISHMENT OF CODIFICATION OF HINDU LAWS
• Code of Manu
TO DISPUTE THAT THE CRUSADES WERE ALL CHRISTIANS AGAINST ALL
MUSLIMS, HISTORIANS AND STUDENTS, THE CRUSADES
•
•
•
•
•
•
Whenever I visited Jerusalem, I always entered the al-Aqsa
Mosque, beside which stood a small mosque which the Franks
had converted into a church.… [T]he Templars, … who were
my friends, would evacuate the little adjoining mosque so that I
could pray in it.
Usamah ibn Munqidh, Muslim historian, Jerusalem, circa 1138
TO DISPUTE THE NOTION THAT EUROPEANS CONTAINED THE LARGEST SHARE
OF GLOBAL COMMODITIES IN THE 17TH CENTURY, EUROCENTRIC HISTORIANS,
GLOBAL EXCHANGE OF GOODS
• Asian percentages of goods as Europeans only had
a fraction ( ex logs, account books, ledgers)
TO PRAISE THE GOD’S OF EGYPT, LOYAL RELIGIOUS EGYPTIAN
FOLLOWERS, THE GEOGRAPHIC IMPORTANCE OF EGYPT
• Hymn of the Nile
TO ACCOUNT FOR EXCHANGES OF NATURAL RESOURCES FOR FINISHED
PRODUCTS, COLONIAL MERCHANTS, COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE
• European merchant account ledges
TO ACCOUNT FOR BIRTHS AND DEATHS, CATHOLICS, FEUDAL EUROPE
• Catholic sacraments
TO COLLECT LABOR TRIBUTE, INCA CITIZENS, ENGINEERING THE INCA EMPIRE
• Mita System
TO PROVIDE SAFETY ACROSS MONGOL HIGHWAYS, IBN BATTUTA AND MARCO
POLO, MONGOL EMPIRE
A paiza or paizi or gerege
TO ILLUSTRATE VESTIGIAL ELEMENTS OF PREISLAMIC ARAB WORLD, PILGRIMS
ON A HAJJ, ISLAMIC MECCA
• Ka’aba
TO HONOR SHAH JAHAN’S WIFE, MUSLIMS OF MUGHAL EMPIRE, ISLAMIC
GUNPOWDER EMPIRES
• Taj Mahal
TO ILLUSTRATE GLOBAL EXCHANGE OF MICROBES, FLORA AND FAUNA,
COLLEGE STUDENTS, POST-1492
• Alfred Crosby’s “The Columbian Exchange”
TO DEDICATE THE GLORIFY OF EASTERN ORTHODOX CHRISTIANITY, PILGRIMS
IN CONSTANTINOPLE, BYZANTINE EMPIRE UNDER JUSTINIAN
• Hagia Sofia
TO IDENTIFY THE SUBMISSIONS OF WOMEN, COURT OF HAN EMPEROR, HAN
DYNASTY
• Ban Zhao’s “Admonitions of Women”
TO IDENTIFY THE ABUSES OF INDIGENOUS POPULATIONS IN THE AMERICAS,
THE POPE, COLUMBIAN EXCHANGE
• Bartolome De Las Casas “Apologetic History of the
Indies”
TO LEGALLY REGULATE BEHAVIORS(ALL), MUSLIMS, DAR AL ISLAM
• Shariah
TO CRITICIZE BUDDHISM , ALL FOLLOWERS AND COURT, TANG DYNASTY
• EDICT on BUDDHISM, c. 845, Emperor Wuzong,
(CHINA)
TO DISTINGUISH REGARD FOR MALIAN JUSTICE SYSTEM, MUSLIM ULEMA, MALI
• Ibn Battuta’s “Travels” or “Rihala”
TO SATISFY THE STRUGGLES OF PLEBEIANS, PLEBEIANS, CLASSICAL ROME
• 12 Tables
TO ILLUSTRATE THE CREATION OF MANKIND, RELIGIOUS FOLLOWERS,
MESOPOTAMIAN
• Epic of Gligamesh
TO EVALUATE THE WAY OF THE WARRIOR, SAMURAI, FEUDAL JAPAN
• Code of Bushido
TO ILLUSTRATE THE BUDDHA IN HUMANIST VALUES, BUDDHIST IN SOUTH
ASIA, CLASSICAL WORLD
• Greco-Buddhism
TO UTILIZE THE SEASONAL MONSOON WINDS, MERCHANTS AND SAILORS OF
THE INDIAN OCEAN, TRADE
• Lateen Sail
TO COLLECT TRIBUTE FOR GOLDEN HORDE, EASTERN ORTHODOX CHRISTIANS,
MONGOL EMPIRE
• Moscow
TO TELL THE HEROIC STORY OF THE LION PRINCE, WEST AFRICAN RESIDENTS,
SUDANIC
• Epic of Sundiata
TO IDENTIFY IRON METALLURGY OF BANTU MIGRATIONS, HISTORIANS, BANTU
MIGRATIONS
• Iron forges in Africa
TO IDENTIFY THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT IN TAOISM, CONFUCIAN
BUREAUCRATS, TANG DYNASTY
• Dao De jing by Lao Tzi
TO IDENTIFY THE NATURE AND CAUSE OF DISEASE, FUTURE MEDICAL MEN,
ATHENS
• Hippocrates