Transcript Unit 2 - Harrison High School

Africa, Americas, Islam, Byzantine, Russia
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Geographic contrasts & challenging
environments
Sahara, Sahel Deserts, Savannas, Rainforest
Nomadic to agricultural, pastoral herders
Droughts, floods, tsetse fly
Nok – early iron age civilization
 Djenne – Djeno city
Permanent move from one place to
another
 Environmental, Economic, Political
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 Environmental more prevalent at first – why?
 Later Social, Religious
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Push-Pull factors
 Push – drought, war, persecution
 Pull – jobs, land, religious freedom
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Effects of migration
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Population change
Cultural diffusion
Ideas and technology
Quality of life improves
Clashes between groups
Depletion of environment
Employment opportunities
Spread of language
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Bantu – language group, not one but a group
who shared cultural characteristics
 Farmers, nomadic herders, used iron
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Bantu began to move from south of Sahara to
South Africa. Why?
 Produced lots of food through farming, population
increased, then not enough land to go around
 Sahara advancing
 Moved south into forests – wood for smelting iron
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Split and covered all of Africa over 1,500 years
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Effects of migration
 Conflicts between Bantus and others; wars
 Exchanged ideas, intermarried
 New agricultural tools, technology
 Shared ideas about government, culture,
language
 These helped unify the people
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Today 240 million people speak version of
Bantu language, most speak Swahili
Camels had enabled effective trade across
Sahara
 Ghana (by 700) was a rich trade kingdom
 Gold and salt – key trade items
 Arab traders also involved in Saharan trade
(caravans)
 Islam spreads through Africa this way
 Some Africans clung to animism (belief that
spirits lived in animals, plants, etc.)
 Wars disrupted gold-salt trade and Ghana
declined
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Mali (1235) emerged
Also involved in gold-salt trade
Found new mines and shifted east creating
larger kingdom
 Sundiata – Mali’s first great leader
 Mansa Musa – famous Mali king
 Muslim, built mosques
 Strong govt., military, divided into provinces
 Built mosques in Timbuktu and it became a
leading center – judges, doctors, scholars, etc.
 After Mansa Musa, Mali declines
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Songhai (1400’s)
Expands further under two Muslim leaders
(Sunni Ali and Askia)
Further spread and advanced government
Lacked modern weapons
Moroccan Arabs invaded with gunpowder
and canons and defeated Songhai (swords &
spears)
Collapse of 1,000 period of great kingdoms in
West Africa
Beringia (land bridge) connected Asia and North
America
 Ice Age had locked up vast amounts of water
exposing land
 Nomadic tribes crossed in search of game
(mammoth most important)
 Possibly 20,000 years ago
 Ice Age ended, ice melted and land covered
 Spread to the tip of South America
 Shift to agriculture leads to settlement, villages
 Maize (corn) important
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Mesoamerica (central America)
Olmecs – first civilization builders (1200 BC)
Rainforest made life difficult but contained salt,
tar, clay for pottery, wood, rubber
 Rivers allowed for transportation
 Built enormous stone sculptures
 Worshipped many gods (jaguar spirit important)
 Extensive trade network
 Collapsed – either invaded or destroyed own
civilization after death of leaders.
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Developed in what is now Mexico (Oaxaca)
Monte Alban – prosperous city atop
mountain
Controlled Oaxaca Valley for 1,000 years
Eventually declined for unknown reasons
Olmec and Zapotec left behind legacy of
trade, sculpture, evidence of religious and
spiritual rituals, language, urban centers
250 – 900 – built a flourishing civilization in
Southern Mexico
 Spectacular cities ruled by god-kings, temples,
palaces, pyramids, etc.
 Chichen Itza – one of the most famous
 Mayan cities linked by trade
 Cacao beans could serve as currency (chocolate
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 Slash and burn agriculture – maize, squash,
beans
 Also used terracing for agriculture
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Worshipped many gods
Made sacrifices, sometimes human, to the
gods (Chichen Itza – large sinkhole)
Studied math, astronomy, physics
Calculated an exact calendar (off by .00002 of
a day by modern standards)
Used zero
Advanced system of writing - glyphs
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Mysterious disappearance (700’s)
Possible explanations
 Warfare disrupted trade
 Population growth
 Over farming
 Toltecs from the north
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By the time of the Spanish arrival (1500’s),
weak and fractured civilization
See page 451
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Lived in the valley; Mexico (1300’s)
Tenochtitlan major urban center
Empire grew through conquest, trade,
brutally suppressed those who challenged
them
Emperor most important
Military leaders and priests important
Widespread use of slaves
Worshipped many gods and had rituals and
ceremonies
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Human sacrifices to the sun god on a massive
scale
Thousands killed atop the Great Temple
Hearts carved out with obsidian knives
Victims were POW’s, criminals, slaves
Goal of conquering was to take prisoners for
sacrifice
Arrival of the Spanish led to the conquest of
the Aztecs (disease, horses, guns)
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High plateau in the Andes Mountains, Peru
(1200’s)
Powerful military and government
Allowed the conquered to keep their customs
so they sometimes just surrendered
Cuzco the capital city
Government controlled economy (unlike
Aztec and Maya who allowed private
commerce)
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All required to work for the state certain days
of the year; were cared for too
A type of ancient “socialism”
No writing system – oral tradition
God-Kings (polytheistic also)
Machu Picchu discovered in 1912 (p. 462)
Civil war weakened Incas
Spanish conquered them
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Arab nomads, Bedouins, organized into tribes
called clans
Extensive trade routes throughout Middle
East and Africa
Mecca – in Arabia; worshiped at shrine called
Ka’aba (associated with Abraham, prophet
and believer in one god)
Allah and belief in one god was known in
Arabia
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Muhammad – orphaned at 6, raised by
grandfather and uncle
Married Khadijah, wealthy older
businesswoman
Revelations from Gabriel – He was the
messenger of Allah
All other gods must be abandoned
Islam – “submission to the will of Allah”
Muslims – followers of Islam
Met with hostility from those who feared neglect of traditional
Arab gods
 Hijrah – fled from Mecca to Medina – turning point; gathered
many followers
 630 returned to Mecca, thousands converted; only destroyed
idols
 Five Pillars
 Faith - Allah
 Prayer - mosque
 Alms - charity
 Fasting - Ramadan
 Pilgrimage – (Haj) to Mecca
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Other customs and morals – no pork, liquor,
Friday worship, no priests or central authority
Qu’ran – holy book (Arabic)
Sunna – Muhammad’s example is the best
model for life
Shari’a – law that regulates morals, family
life, community life, etc.
After Muhammad’s death, Abu-Bakr chosen
as first caliph
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Promised to uphold teachings of Muhammad
Some began to abandon faith
Bakr invoked jihad (“striving”), also means an
armed struggle against nonbelievers
Greatly expanded Islam – by 750, empire
stretched from Atlantic to Indus!
Attracted by the equality of Islam
Allowed conquered people to keep their faith
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Split in Islam
 Shi’a – believed caliphs needed to be a direct descendent
of Muhammad
 Sunni – followers of Muhammad’s example
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Today, approximately 85% Sunni, 15% Shi’a
Important cities grew: Damascas, Cordoba, Cairo,
Jerusalem, Baghdad
4 classes:
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Muslims at birth
Converts to Islam
Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians
Slaves
Astronomy – observatories, astrolabe
Literature – Thousand and One Knights
Art – calligraphy (can’t reproduce image of
Muhammad), textiles, ceramics, mosaics, etc.
 Architecture – some Roman influence, baths
 Medicine – medical books, eye surgery, idea of
infectious diseases, hygiene, quarantine (Ibn
Sina)
 Developed algebra
 Ibn Battuta – travels and geography
 Ibn Sina – medicine and science
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See separate Power Point