Transcript Mid-term Review 600-1450

Mid-term Review 600-1450
What was Bedouin society?
Bedouin society was made up of nomadic peoples who
migrated through the deserts to find grass and water for
their animals.
The Bedouin organized themselves in family and clan
groups.
Individuals and their immediate families depended heavily
on their larger kinship networks for support.
Because the Arabian desert was such a harsh environment
to live, cooperation with kin often made the difference
between death and survival.
Bedouin people developed a strong sense of loyalty to their
clans.
Clan identities and loyalties survived for centuries after the
appearance of Islam.
How did Muhammad and Islam address the
fundamental problems in Bedouin society?
• Muhammad’s followers recorded his revelations into
written texts that became known as the Quran, or holy
book of Islam.
• Muhammad stressed the rejection of idolatry and
promoted monotheistic faith.
• In Medina, Muhammad organized his followers into a
unified group called the umma, or community of the
faithful.
• He provided the community with a legal and social code.
• Muhammad led the community in daily prayers to Allah.
• He look after the economic welfare of the umma by
organizing commercial ventures.
• He made almsgiving a prime moral virtue.
• Muhammad and his followers conquered Mecca and
forced elites to adopt the faith. They destroyed pagan
shrines and replaced them with mosques.
What are the basic beliefs of
Islam?
Five Pillars
• Acknowledge Allah as the only god and
Muhammad as the only prophet.
• They must prayer to Allah daily while facing
Mecca.
• Observe a fast during the daylight hours of the
month of Ramadan.
• They must contribute alms for the relief of the
weak and poor.
• Make at least one pilgrimage to Mecca in life
time.
What motivations led Islam to transform
itself from a nomadic society to a global
civilization?
• Islam offered detailed guidance on proper behavior in all
aspects of life.
• It drew its inspiration from the Quran and the early
historical account of Muhammad’s life.
• It offered guidance on marriage, family life, inheritance,
slavery, business, and commercial relationship.
• Islam became more than a religion; it became a way of
life with social and ethical values based on Islamic
religious principles.
• Islamic society drew much of its prosperity from
commerce, i.e. overland trade, development of banks,
etc.
What were the major characteristics of
the Abbasid Caliphate? (750-1258)
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Showed no special favor to Arab military
aristocracy
No longer conquering, but the empire still grew
Abbasid administration
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Relied heavily on Persian techniques of statecraft
Central authority ruled from the court at Baghdad
Appointed governors to rule provinces
What were the major characteristics of
the Abbasid Caiphate? (750-1258)
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The Abbasids built
magnificent capital
at Baghdad, which
became one of the
great cultural centers
of the world.
The architectural
style of the dynasty
was unique and
beautiful. It is best
represented by the
mosque built in
Cordoba, Spain.
How did the position of women in Islamic
society change from Muhammad to the
Abbasid Empire?
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With the establishment of the Quran
between 651 and 652, women were
treated with more dignity and were
considered equal before Allah. Also,
infanticide was strictly forbidden.
Women gained more influence within the
home.
Under the Abbasid dynasty, however,
women lost their influence in public life
and, in a large part, in the home. This
happened as a result of expansion into
What was Islam’s attitude toward slavery?
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The Quran makes numerous references to slaves and
slavery.
Like numerous passages in the Hebrew bible and the
New Testament, the Qur’an assumes the permissibility
of owning slaves, which was an established practice
before its revelation.
The Qur’an does not explicitly condemn slavery or
attempt to abolish it. It does, however, provide a
number of regulations designed to improve the
situation of slaves.
To what extent was Islam successful in
converting India to Islam?
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Between 600 C.E. and 1200 C.E., India was not
unified. The Gupta Empire, the last state to
provide any sort of unity, collapsed in 550 C.E.
Muslim invaders reached the Indus Valley and
Afghanistan in the 700’s and converted it to Islam.
In 1022, Muslim armies began the conquest of
northern India.
In 1206, the Muslims captured the city of Delhi and
most of northern India fell into their hands.
Muslim generals established the Delhi Sultanate.
Islam did not displace earlier faiths like Hinduism
and Buddhism but joined them as one of the
country’s major religions.
To what extent was Islam successful in
converting Southeast Asia to Islam?
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As the coastal trade and shipping of India came to be
controlled (from the 8th century onward) increasingly by
Muslims, elements of Islamic culture began to filter
into Southeast Asia.
Almost everywhere in the islands of the region, trading
contacts paved the way for conversion. Muslim
merchants and sailors introduced local peoples to the
ideas and rituals of the new faith and impressed on them
how much of the known world had already been
converted.
The first areas to be won to Islam in the last decades of
the 13th century were several small port centers on the
northern coast of Sumatra.
There were large Muslim communities in the cities, but
not in the rural areas due to the trade networks.
What were the characteristics of the Swahili city-states?
Swahili dominated east African coast from Mogadishu to
Sofala
Spoke Swahili, a Bantu language, supplemented with
some Arabic words
Trade with Muslim merchants became important by the
tenth century
The Swahili city-states chiefs gained power through
taxing trade on ports
Ports developed into city-states governed by kings,
eleventh and twelfth centuries
Kilwa: good example of busy city-state on east coast;
exported gold
What were the characteristics of the Great Zimbabwe?
Zimbabwe was powerful kingdom of east Africa
By the ninth century, chiefs began to build stone
residences (Zimbabwe)
Magnificent stone complex known as Great Zimbabwe in
the twelfth century
Eighteen thousand people lived in Great Zimbabwe in the
late fifteenth century
Kings organized flow of gold, ivory, and slaves
What were the characteristics of the Byzantine
Empire?
The eastern Roman Empire,
centered in Constantinople,
became the highly
centralized government
known as the Byzantine
Empire; whereas in the
west, the empire collapsed.
The Byzantine Empire was a lot
more centralized and
organized than the western
empire.
What were the characteristics of the Byzantine Empire?
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The Byzantine Empire
used the Greek
language; its
architecture had
distinctive domes; its
culture in general had
more in common with
Eastern cultures like
those of Persia; and its
brand of Christianity
became an entirely
separate branch known
as Orthodox
Christianity.
Throughout Byzantine
history, the emperors
treated the church as a
department of state.
Under Justinian, who reigned
from 527 to 565, the period is
known for the flowering of the
arts and sciences, evident in the
construction of major buildings
and churches, most notably
Hagia Sophia, an enormous
cathedral that still stands today.
What accounts for the decline of the Byzantine Empire?
–In the 11th century, vigorous economic development in
western Europe supported a remarkable round of military
and political expansion.
–The Normans (Scandinavian people who had seized
Normandy in northern France) took control of southern
Italy and expelled Byzantine authorities there.
–During the 12th and 13th centuries, the Normans and other
western European peoples mounted a series of Crusades
and took the opportunity to carve out states in the heart of
the Byzantine Empire.
–As Europeans invaded into Byzantine territory from the
west, nomadic Turkish peoples invaded from the east.
–By the 12th century Islamic invaders had seized much of
Anatolia.
–The loss of Anatolia- the principal source of Byzantine
grain, wealth, and military forces—sealed the fate of the
Byzantine empire.
Byzantine Empire
Byzantine Empire and Russia
•Mid-ninth century, Russians
started to organize a large state:
Kiev
•The conversion of Prince
Vladimir, 989
•Kiev served as a conduit for
spread of Byzantine culture
and religion
•Writing and literature and
Orthodox missions spread
Byzantine culture
•Byzantine art and
architecture dominated Kiev:
icons and onion domes
Byzantine Empire and Russia
•Princes established
caesaropapist control of Russian
Orthodox church
•Russian culture flourished from
eleventh century
•Moscow claimed to be
world's "third Rome"
•Sent out many missionaries
from sixteenth century on
What was Feudalism?
•Historians once used the term “feudalism” to refer to
the political and social order of medieval Europe. It
was based on a neat hierarchy of lords and vassals,
who collectively took charge of political and military
affairs.
•Increasingly, scholars are abandoning this term
because it distorts and oversimplifies the
understanding of a complicated society.
•Medieval Europe was a society in which local political
and military elites worked out various ad hoc ways to
organize their territories and maintain order in the
absence of effective central authorities.
What was Manorialism?
•A manor was also a piece of land under the control of a single LORD. The
lord was given this manor land from the king, usually for his devotion to
the king.
•Because the lord was away from his manor sometimes, he hired VASSALS
to help him run the manor in his absence.
•Everything was produced on the manor. Cattle were raised for milk and
meat. Sheep were raised for wool. Several fields were used to grow a
variety of foods like potatoes, corn and wheat. Blacksmith workshops,
bakeries, a mill, markets, and even a church or chapel was present.
•PEASANTS and SERFS lived in huts or very small homes around the
edges of the manor. Most of the work on the manor was done by the
peasants and serfs.
•During the early Middle Ages, the institution of serfdom encouraged the
development of manor as the principal form of agricultural organization in
western Europe.
What was the role of women
during the Middle Ages?
•Women were subservient to men.
•Women of lower classes cared for the household, bore
children, and raised them.
•One of the few peasant women to leave an individual mark on
medieval Europe was the French war leader Joan of Arc (14101431).
•In most parts of medieval Europe, women had some property
rights. They could own and inherit land and property.
•Women had protection, although no always equality, before
the law.
•Women could enter religious life, but they could not become
priests.
•Aristocratic women could exert much information political
and cultural influence.
What were the causes of the
Crusades?
•Religious fervor on the part of Muslims and
Christians.
•Geopolitical conflict between Europe and the
Middle East
•The Europeans’ desire to become more involved in
the international trade network stretching from the
Mediterranean to China.
•Personal ambitions of Europeans hoping to gain
wealth and land in the Middle East.
•Racial and religious prejudice.
What was the impact of the
Crusades?
•Worsening of the relationship between the Muslim
and Christian worlds.
•Greater awareness of the wider world, especially
the lands of the east, that the Crusades stimulated
among the Europeans.
•Increased knowledge of and desire for the
economic wealth to be gained by greater interaction
with the Middle and Far East.
•The Crusading ideal—the notion that Christian
warriors were fighting a holy war on behalf of a
sacred cause
What were the basic characteristics of the Olmec?
Large wave of humans traveled from Siberia to Alaska
around 13,000 B.C.E. By 9500 B.C.E., humans reached
the southernmost part of South America
Early agriculture: beans, squashes, chilis; later, maize
became the staple (5000 B.C.E.) Agricultural villages
appeared after 3000 B.C.E.
Olmecs, the "rubber people,"lived near the Gulf of Mexico
(1200 B.C.E. )
Elaborate complexes built
The colossal human heads--possibly likenesses of rulers
Rulers' power shown in construction of huge pyramids
Trade in jade and obsidian
Influence of Olmec: maize, ceremonial centers, calendar,
human sacrifice, ball game
What were the characteristics of the Tang and Song
Dynasties?
See Sarah and Linda’s documentary.
What was the role of women in the Tang and Sang
Dynasties?
Strengthened patriarchy authority
explained the popularity of foot
binding which spread among
privileged classes during the Song
era.
Like the practice of veiling women in
the Islamic world, foot binding placed
women of privileged classes under
tight supervision of their husbands or
other male guardians, who managed
the women’s affairs in the interests of
the larger family.
What was Neo-Confucianism? How did it change the
political and social nature of China?
Buddhist influence on Confucianism
Early Confucianism focused on practical issues of politics and
morality
Confucians began to draw inspiration from Buddhism.
Buddhism offered a tradition of logical thought and
argumentation but also dealt with issues, such as the
nature of the soul and the individual’s relationship with
the cosmos, not systemically explored by Confucian
thinkers.
Zhu Xi (1130-1200 C.E.), the most prominent neo-Confucian
Describe Japan during the Heian era.
794-1185 C.E.
Japanese emperors served as ceremonial figureheads and symbols of
authority.
Effective power in the hands of the Fujiwara family.
Emperor did not rule, which explains the longevity of the imperial
house .
Chinese learning dominated Japanese education and political thought.
The Tale of Genji was written by a woman, Murasaki Shikibu .
How was Genghis Khan able to build one of history’s largest empires?
He formed an alliance with a prominent Mongol clan leader in the late
12th century.
He mastered the art of steppe diplomacy which called for displays of
personal courage in battle, combined with intense loyalty to allies,
as well as a willingness to betray allies to improve one’s position.
He mistrusted the tribes and broke up the tribal organization. He
forced men of fighting age to join new military units with no tribal
affiliations.
He chose high military and political officials not on the basis of kinship
or tribal status, but rather because of their talents or their loyalty to
him.
He establish a capital at Karakorum, present-day Har Horin and built a
luxurious palace.
The early Mongol armies were large. They were also talented
cavalrymen and archers. They were also quick to adopt military
technology.
What was the impact of Mongol conquest?
By Genghis Khan’s death in 1227, the Mongols controlled a large
state encompassing present-day Mongolia, much of Central
Asia, and northern and Western China.
From 1237-1240, the Mongols conquered most of Russia and
Ukraine.
The Mongols invaded the Middle East in the 1250’s, toppling the
Abbasid Caiphate in 1258 and advancing until 1260.
Mongols imposed a single political authority, encouraged economic
exchange, made travel conditions safer, and imposed legal
order. The Silk Road flourished, and cities like Samarkand
became crucial economic centers, with merchants, missionaries,
and travelers of all professions and ethnicities passing through.
Many historians refer to this brief semi-unification of Eurasia as the
Pax Mongolica, or Mongol Peace.