Unit 1: The Global Tapestry

Drought resistant, matured early which led to population growth

They were dominated by ethnic Turks, not Arabs

Society is hierarchical, which is shown in many different relationships like men over women, state over citizen, and elder over junior.

Ultimately, harmony is maintained by keeping proper relationships.

Filial Piety

Children obeying and honoring parents, grandparents, and ancestors (an idea of confucianism and previous religions)

1. Neo-Confucianism

   1. ancient history with it, leading to legitimization

   2. hierarchical order = maintain order

2. Imperial Bureaucracy Expansion

   1. Civil Service Exam based on merit to join (not always fair because of wealth = better education)

A territory that is politically organized under a single government

Buddhism and Islam: both widely practiced

EX: Cambodia = Buddhism

3 belief systems: Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism

By 1200 c., Buddhism reduced to monastic communities

Most people were Hindu

• Bhakti Hinduism

Delhi Sultanate made Islam religion of the elite

• Delhi Sultanate (Northern India): elite Muslims but majority Hindu

• Rajput Kingdoms (Central/Northern India): warriors that held sultanate back from conquering more land

• Vijayanagara Empire (Hindu Kingdom in Southern India): formed by pre-Islam converts, rivaled sultanate in power

• Majapahit Kingdom (Buddhist): controlled sea routes until decline (b/c of China’s support of Malacca city-state)

• Khmer Empire (Hindu to Buddhist): Angkor Wat depicts syncretism between two religions

Theravada Buddhism: THE OG!!

• Buddhist monks in monasteries to achieve enlightenment (normal life too busy for Nirvana)

Mahayana Buddhism: East Asia

• inclusive, achieved enlightenment through bodhisattvas who didn’t go to Nirvana to teach the common people (the true G’s)

• SYNCRETISM WITH OTHER CULTURES!!!

1. Confucianism (syncretism w/ Shintoism)

2. Zen Buddhism

3. Kanji w/ Chinese influence

4. Imperial Bureaucracy (merit system)

1. Buddhism

2. Civil service exam

Similarities:

• Neo-confucian movements

• Monetary + Pop. growth

Differences:

• Tang = militaristic VS. Song = pacifist + culture

• Tang = Buddhism VS. Song = persecution of religion in exchange for confucianism

• Song had less land mass

Founded in Mesoamerica in 1345 by Mexica

• their capital = Tenochtitlan

In 1428, they began a program of expansion and created a huge empire that was mainly…

DECENTRALIZED

Conquered people were:

• forced to pay tributes in goods or labor

• enslaved and sometimes sacrificed in religious rituals

• Military (Delhi, Seljuks, Mamluks)

• Travel of Muslim merchants (EX: Mali)

• Missionaries (Sufism)

Sharia: based on the Quran legal code

Similarities:

• Capital (1250-1450) contained massive strucutres

• Wealthy due to agriculture and gold trade globally

Differences:

• Rulers maintained indigenous faiths

Subordinate position, no legal rights (no property, no remarriage), less education

Footbinding in elite to display that women don’t need to work

Turks from Central Asia that were hired by Abbasid to prop up their failing state —> created their own Empire in the region

Shipbuilding:

• world leaders in innovation

• maritime trade

Grand Canal:

• led to more transportation and communication

Became government policy:

• easier to carry around

• copper and other metals could be saved for other objects and uses

Maritime trade:

• Indian Ocean + Shipbuilding + Grand Canal

International trade:

• traded silk and porcelain on the Silk Roads

• Nasir al-Din al-Tusi invented trigonometry

• Muslim Scholars —> House of Wisdom in Baghdad

  • preserved Greek philosophers’ works which led to European Rennaisance

Europe = Christian

• Byzantine and Kievan Rus in the east = Orthodox

• West Europe = Roman Catholic (fall of Rome led to small decentralized states united by religion)

• Muslims in Iberia

• Jews forced to European outskirts due to Anti-Semitism

Began in Southern India which emphasized the worship of one form of God

• challenged social and gender heirarchies

The economic system of decentralized Europe where peasants were bound to the land and worked in exchange for the lord’s military protection

Abrahamic

All practiced in Dar al-Islam

• Mohammad claimed to be final prophet in God’s messengers (throughout Christian and Jewish scripture like Jesus)

MONOTHEISTIC

Non-arab ethnically diverse enslaved mercenaries and slaves

Changed when Mamluk won political control over several Muslim states, leading to the Mamluk dynasty

Tenant farming: rent land out to farmers

Similarites:

• Both originated in India

• Both believe in reincarnation

• Trying to achieve oneness with the universe (Nirvana for Buddhism)

• Peasants bound to the land (different from slavery)

• Not owned by people, but by an amount of land

1. Commercialization of Economy (producing silk and porcelain)

2. Agriculture Innovations (Champa Rice)

3. Transportation Innovation (Grand Canal expansion)

Swahili city-states grew powerful due to Indian Ocean Trade

• politically independent by influenced by Dar al-Islam

• Swahili = combination of Bantu and Arabic

• Powerful, highly centralized

• Grew with trade; Dar al-Islam w/ Trans-Saharan

• Elites converted to Islam with a majority holding indigenous beliefs

ARAB

The Caliphate began to break apart + Baghdad conquered by Mongols c. 1258

• Elaborate bureaucracy through Andean region to control conquered territories

  • Used Mit’a system as a source of labor

CENTRALIZED

• Located in North America around Mississippi River Valley, they focused on agriculture

• Larger towns controlled smaller ones around it

• Mound-builders

  • one of the largest built by the Cahokia people and consisted of 80 burial mounds up to 100 feet people

Four Noble Truths

• suffering in the world and desire and craving is the CAUSE

Eightfold Path —> to achieve enlightenment

constant reincarnation to achieve NIRVANA!!!

Political system of decentralized Europe where powerful lords and kings gained allegiance from lesser lords, who became VASSALS

• got land in exchange for military service

• Grew to trade with Med + Arabian Peninsula

• Monarch and strict hierarchies

• CHRISTIAN!

• Decentralized city-states similar to the Swahili civilization

• Common culture + grew powerful through trade b/c of the Trans-Saharan trade

States demonstrate continuity, innovation, and diversity of state systems in Africa