Blog #4 - Part 3 Post Classical Era - Ch 8 -10

The Post Classical Era, AKA the Medieval (too Eurocentric), and Third-Wave Civilizations. This Era roughly lasted through the time 500 - 1500 CE.

CHAPTER 8: Commerce and Culture, 500–1500

+ Silk Roads: Exchange across Eurasia
For 2000 years, goods, ideas, technologies, and diseases made their way across Eurasia. One of the worlds most extensive and sustained networks of exchange among its diverse peoples.

• Goods in Transit

- China Contributed: Silk, bamboos, mirrors, gunpowder, paper, rhubarb, ginger, lacquerware, chrysanthemums.
- Siberia/Central Asia: furs, walrus tusks, amber, livestock, horses, falcons, hides, copper vessels, tents, saddles, slaves
- India: cotton, herbal medicine, precious stones, spices
- Middle East: dates, nuts, almonds, dried fruit, dyes, lapis lazuli, swords
- Mediterranean basin: gold coins, glassware, glazes, grapevines, jewelry, artworks, perume, wool and linen textiles, olive oil.

• Cultures in Transit

- Buddhism, a cultural product of India, spread widely throughout central and East Asia.

• Disease in Transit

- Disease is blamed on part for fall of some empires. ie. Mongul empire and the spread of "the black death" or bubonic plague, anthrax, or a package of epidemic diseases. From China to Europe. 1/3 of Europe's population from 1346 - 1350 perished from the plague.

+ Sea Roads: Exchange across the Indian Ocean
linked the distant peoples of the Eastern Hemisphere, China to East Africa.

- Mediterranean basin: ceramics, glassware, wine, gold, olive oil
- East Africa: ivory, gold, iron goods, slaves, tortoiseshells, quartz, leopard skins
- Arabia: frankincense, myrrh, perfumes
- India: grain, ivory, precious stones, cotton textiles, spices, timber, tortoiseshells
- Southeast Asia: tin, sandlewood, cloves, nutmeg, mace
- China: silks porcelain, tea

+ Sand Roads: Exchange across the Sahara Desert

- Trans-African Trade: The North African coastal region generated cloth, glassware, weapons and other manufactured goods.
- Trans-Saharan: By Camel; gold, copper deposits, salt, African ivory, kola nuts, and slaves.
- Sudanic West Africa: exchanged metal goods, cotton textiles, gold, and various food products using boats along the nile river and donkeys overland.

Great empires came out of this trade route in the Sudanic area like the kingdon of Ghana and the kingdom of Mali. These area gained a reputation of Great wealth by the surrounding areas because of what the gained from this trade route.


+ An American Network: Commerce and Connection in the Western Hemisphere
Not a large network of trade due to the absense of horses, donkeys, camels, wheeled vehicles, and large oceangoing vessels, all of which facilitated long-distance trade and travel in Afro-Eurasia. Geographical or environmental differences added more obstacles.

The most intense areas of exchange and communication occurred within the mississippi valley(Cahokia), Mesoamerican(Mayan & Aztec), and Andean(Inca) groups.

CHAPTER 9: China and the World: East Asian Connections, 500–1300 C.E

+ The Reemergence of a Unified China
China had been fragmented. Insurgence from the North. Entrenched with Aristocratic families.

• A “Golden Age” of Chinese Achievement
the Sui Dynasty (589-618)Ragained it's unity with
1200 mile canal system linked northern and southern China economically and contributed much to the prosperity that followed. But the ruthlessness of Sui emporer and a fertile military campaign to conquer Korea exhausted the state's resources, alienated many people, and prompted the over throw of the dynasty. This collaspe gave way to 2 dynasties that followed--

the Tang (618-907) and the Song (960-1270) -- built on the Sui foundation of renewed unity, together they established patterns of the Chinese life that endured into the twentieth Century, despite a fifty-year period of disunity between the two dynasties.

• Women in the Song Dynasty
less golden for the women. More Patriachism was in place in the Song then the tang. This is also where the much talked about foot binding (torture) for women was prevalent. The Song Dynasty offered a mixture of tightening restrictions and new opportunies to its women. More education and property rights.

+ China and the Northern Nomads: A Chinese World Order in the Making

• The Tribute System
• Cultural Influence across an Ecological Frontier

+ Coping with China: Comparing Korea, Vietnam, and Japan

• Korea and China
• Vietnam and China
• Japan and China - Japan has been indigenious to itself. No outside invaders.

+ China and the Eurasian World Economy

• Spillovers: China’s Impact on Eurasia
• On the Receiving End: China as Economic Beneficiary

+ China and Buddhism

+ Making Buddhism Chinese

• Losing State Support: The Crisis of Chinese Buddhism

CHAPTER 10: The Worlds of European Christendom: Connected and Divided, 500-1300
Christianity provided a cultural commonality for the diverse societies of western Eurasia but divided both politically and religiously. Abandoned Latin for the Greek Language
Serftom - System of Lords and Manners - Serfs = kind of like free slaves
Western Europe's enemy was the Vikings

+ Eastern Christendom: Building on the Past
330 - founding of Constantinople
395 - final division of Roman Empire into eastern and western halves
527 - 565 - Reign of Justinian; attempted reconquest of western empire
7th century - Loss of syria/palestine, Egypt, and North Africa to Arab forces
726 - 843 Iconoclastic controvery
988 - conversion of Vladimir, prince of Kiev, to christianity
1054 - Mutual excommunication of pope and patriarch
1204 - Crusaders sack constantinople
1453 - Ottomans seize Constantinople; end of Eyzantine Empire (Conquest of the Muslim Turks)

• The Byzantine State - continuation of the roman empire - Eatern Half
• The Byzantine Church and Christian Divergence - tied to the state known as caesaropapism
• Byzantium and the World - always in conflict with persia, this weakened them for the Arab armies. traded with all its neighbors.
• The Conversion of Russia - Expansion of Orthodox chrisianity. community of Rus/Kiev (Chosen because in Islam you were not able to drink alcolhol)

+ Western Christendom: Constructing a Hybrid Civilization

• In the Wake of Roman Collapse: Political Life in Western Europe, 500-1000
• In the Wake of Roman Collapse: Society and the Church, 500-1000
• Accelerating Change in the West, 1000-1300
• Europe Outward Bound: The Crusading Tradition

+ The West in Comparative Perspective

• Catching Up
Technological innovation allowed western Europe to catch up
• Pluralism in Politics
• Reason and Faith

Note: Info comes from The Ways of the World, A brief Global History textbook by Robert W. Strayer, website, http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/strayer1e/default.asp?

Blog #3 -> Ch. 5

As assigned from class, my chapter to review for this week was chapter 5.

Chapter 5 was about Eurasian Cultural Traditions. Eurasia consists of Persia (present day Iraq), Eastern Mediteranean/Palestine/Isreal/Eastern Roman Empire, India, China, and Greece.

These cultural traditions are mostly religous/spiritual. They consist of the following:

• Persia -> Zoroastrianism -> Single High god; cosmic conflict of good and evil
• Eastern Mediteranean/Palestine/Isreal -> Judaism -> Transcendent High God; covenant with chosen people; social justice
• Palestine/Isreal -> Christianity -> Jesus; Supreme importance of love based on intimate relationship with God; at odds with established authorities
• Palestine/Isreal/eastern Roman Empire -> Christianity -> Christianity as a religion for all; salvation through faith in Christ
• India -> Brahmanism/Hinduism -> Brahma (the single impersonal divine reality); Karma; rebirth; goal of liberation (moksha)
• India -> Jainism -> All creatures have souls; purification through nonviolence; opposed to caste
• India -> Buddhism -> Suffering caused by desire/ attachment; end of suffering through modest and moral living and meditation practice
• China -> Confucianism -> Social harmony through moral example; secular outlook; importance of education; family as model of the state
• China -> Daoism -> Withdrawl from the world into contemplation of nature; simple living; end of striving
• Greece -> Greek rationalism -> Socrates, Plato, Aristotle; Style of persistent questioning; secular explanation of nature and human life

Most of these traditions sought an alternative to an earlier polytheism (multiple gods). In contrast the classical era sought to define a single source of order and meaning in the universe.

Note: Info comes from The Ways of the World, A brief Global History textbook by Robert W. Strayer, website, http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/strayer1e/default.asp?

Blog #2 - Ch 1-3

My blog is an attempt to highlight all the pertinent points in these chapters so that it will later help me study for the quiz.

History is about the three C's. 1. Comparisons, 2. Changes over time, and 3. Connections or Inter-connections.

We begin with Part One, the beginnings in history. The end of the ice age and the emergence of humankind. The Paleolithic Revolution which means the "Old Stone Age", the Neolithic which means Agriculture, and the Turning point of Civilizations.

The Paleolithic Revolution:

Neanderthals & Modern Humans. Neanderthals lived in the ice age, had bigger barrel chests, their brains were bigger and their musculature. The had to deal with cold and the Mega fauna and they needed the extra strength to kill there meals by having to thrust spears from a short distance into their prey. This was a hunting and gathering group.

From an relative view 95% of human existence was existed by the hunter and gathers.

The Chumash and the San tribes carried the lifestyle of hunters and gatherers well into the modern era. They never evolved into the more civilized agricultural era.

This kind of community were more nomadic. They moved around and didn't settle. The either moved with the animals or the plants. No real form of writing. They worked fewer hours and had more time for leisure. Men were the hunters and women were the gatherers and the maker of tools. men and women were equal and there was not much of a hierarchy. Life expectancy was low, 35 on average. They set fires to encourage growth of plants. Australia ended up with the proliferation of fire-resistant eucalyptus trees as a result of these fires. The Flores men in Indonesia were a smaller version of neanderthals. Little evidence of of a spiritual or religious dimension but some findings in paintings and carvings suggest a ceremonial spirit.

The transition to the Agriculture Revolution coincided with the melting of the ice age and global warming.

The Agriculture (Neolithic) Revolution:

These people settled in one place, gave way for bigger civilization because this way of farming was able to feed and sustain greater amounts of people. This was the era of domesticating both plants and animals. This era also began more of an inequality between them and between men and women. There was more organization. This is where the pyramids were built. mud bricks were made for building homes and pyramids instead of using stone. These communities made pottery. It also brought cities, states, empires, civilizations, writing and literature. Some of the negatives brought with this era was animal-borne diseases, natural disasters, Environmental decay or overuse, and warfare. Transformed corn from one inch to six inches, also known as teosinte and Maize. Sheep gave way to wool, cows gave way to milk, and chickens gave way to laying more eggs. Pastoral Societies relied far more on domesticated animals then agriculture. Tomuls = canue makers. Catalhoyuk = Southern Turkey. This era occured separately and independently in many widely scattered parts of the world: the fertile Crescent of Southwest Asia, serveral places in sub-Saharan Africa, China, new Guinea, Mesoamerica, the Andes, and eastern North America and it roughly took place at the same time. Only the llama/alpaca existed in the western hemishere. With farming it involved more hard work so less leisure time. Living close to animals subjected humans to diseases, like smallpox, flu, measles, chicken pox, malaria, tuberculosis, rabies... which living in tight communities gave way to the first epidemics. Natural disasters could left societies volunerable to famine in case of crop failure, drought or other catastrophes. The working of gold, copper, bronze, and iron became part of jewelry, tools, and weapons. The invention of looms for weaving. No pastoral societies emerged in the Americas. Agricultural societies included the Banpo and Jericho.

Civilizations: Cities, States, and Unequal Societies

The three biggest civilzations from the same time frame was Egypt/Nubia settling around the Nile River Valley, The Sumer, in southern Mesopotamia (presence day IRAQ), settling around the Euphrates and Tigris River valleys, and Norte Chico near the Andes mountains in the central coast of Peru. Three other civilization also important are the Olmecs, in current day Veracruz, Mexico; the Indus Valley civilizations, the Saraswatia river valley which is now Pakistan; and the Chinese Shang Dynasty. These civilizations gave way to more hierarhies of gender and Patriarchy, which is a male dominated society. With the exception of Egypt. There was more communication put to writing and accounting. Kings and leaders. The specialties of crafts. The Egyptians had a more organized and consistant existence with predictiable flooding to renew their farmland, where the Sumer area had a much harder time and it usually flooded thier farmland at the wrong times.

1. Cities lay at the heart of civilizations because they played important roles as centers of adminstration, culture, and commerce.

2. Writings came the invention of record keeping

3. Epic Gilgamesh -> civilization in Sumer

Haitawana was the first person to put her name to her work/writings.

Note: Info comes from The Ways of the World, A brief Global History textbook by Robert W. Strayer, website, http://bcs.bedfordstmartins.com/strayer1e/default.asp?

Blog #1 - Intro

Here is my first attemt at blogging. My first Blog ever.

This blog is for my World History Class at the College, NDNU. I will be using my blog hopefully as a study guide for me. I will be putting in summaries and important facts from all the Chapter readings in hopes that when it comes time to study for the quizes these notes will become my study guide.

This class meets every Monday and we all are to add at least 10 blog entries in regards to our readings. We will have four quizes in all and 1 paper to write on a field trip we will need to take.