China

A. Invasions by outside forces, including Mongol nomads, forced Chinese empires such as Tang and Song to allocate more resources to defense.

B. Revolutions in waring empires would end up with the military taking command and setting up a new empire. Political system remained as an empire with strong belief in Divine Authority with bureaucracy.

C. However, the Yuan dynasty was created by Mongol leader Kublai Khan, who implemented many Chinese tradtitions into his empire such as the bureaucracy.

Japan

A. Japan was influenced by religious ideologies, political reforms, and goods from China. Buddhist missionaries were sent into Japan, however the predominant religion that was practiced at this time was Shintoism. Neo-Confucianism, including Bureaucratic and legal reforms from China occured in Japan.

B. A hierarchy was present in Japan. Birth into classes was how people were judged and the nobles held high positions and they had a notable status. Japan was always ruled by emperors who descended from the same family. The family was known as the Yamato Clan and there were some very strong and powerful families during this time period in Japan like the Fujiwara. Soon, feudalism also emerged in Japan around the time that feudalism emerged in western Europe. Japan's feudalism was different from European feudalism in the way that they placed the merchants at the bottom of the feudal pyramid. Their feudal class structure was called the Four Tier system and it had the samuri at the top, then the farmers/peasants, then the artisans and at the bottom, the merchants. People above the four tier system were the Shoguns which were at the top of the society, the emperors, and the daimyos. The people below the Four Tier system were the Ainu, burakumin, hinin, prostitutes and courtesans. The outcaste castes were called eta.

Southeast Asia

A. The Chinese armies were already in Vietnam to expand their empires. Because of the Tang armies in Vietnam, cultural trade occured between China and Vietnam. They did resist the influence of the Tang armies. Also, Islam became widely spread from maritime trade with the Islamic Delhi Sultanate. Islam is still practiced in India.

B. China did have influence on areas such as Vietnam in Southeast Asia because Confuianism was later accepted by the Vietnamese nobility and so was the idea of extended families. However, there were not so many people who migrated to Vietnam from China, which is the reason why spread of Chinese language and belief was hard. This thus allowed Vietnam to maintain their independence after the Tang dynasty collapsed.

Oceania

South Asia

A. Islamic invasions took place and the leader, the sultan, took over. Islam began to spread through the invasions and collison of cultures.

B. The Delhi Sultanate was created and this was a kingdom ruled by the Islamic invaders' leader, or the sultan. Becuase of this kingdom, Islam spread throughout India and the Islam and Hinduism clashed.  However, there were some prosperous events that took place. For example, schools and colleges were established and there was some cooperation between Muslims and Hindus at some points.

Central Asia

 Various new tribes took control of the region. Mongols came and started to dominate a majority of their surrounding neighbors. Islam penetrated in 8th century and overtook Buddhism as the main religion. Arab armies started taking control of the region and at the Battle of Talas, the Abbasid defeated the Tang Dynasty to secure their influence on the region.

Middle East

Originally formed up by small regional tribes, which held reverence towards ancestry, often fighting in feuds between each other, and some cities. Muhammad, in the 7th Century, united many of these tribes and cities together under a common religion, Islam, and from there, the Middle East rapidly became united and conquered most of Arabia and pushed towards the Byzantine Empire and into Egypt and South Spain. A lot of conflict over the Caliphate and who would assume power; divided into Sunni and Shiite Islam. 

Eastern Europe

After the collapse of the Roman Empire, Eastern Europe was dominated by the Byzantine Empire. It followed a similar political structure its predecesor and the state religion was Easern Orthodox Christianity. Unlike the Romans however, the Byzantines adopted Greek as its local language and was more open to local customs. The Byzantine political system was very complex and involved extensive use of spies within courts. 

Because Byzantium, the empire's capital was in such a good place to trade, it was constantly attacked by Muslims from the east. Emperor Justinian looked to counteract this by recreating the Roman Empire by conquering territory like Italy. This promoted the Eastern Orthodox Religion. 

Byzantines invented new artisitc styles by borrowing from the Muslims and fusing them with existing styles. These elements were seen in buildings like the Hagia Sophia. 

Western Europe

This era was a step backward for Western Europe. The collapse of the Roman Empire led to a loss in technology, innovation and literacy. There were few new innovations during this era. The Catholic Church acted as a uniting force, holding Western Europe together. However, it restricted the growth of technology, innovation and literacy. Commoners no longer had to be literate because their primary literature was read to them by priests. Literacy rates fell as religion took a stronger hold.

The most significant political structure was feudalism.  The king gave land grants to lords who then divided their land up  and dispersed it among vassals. The land grants were called fiefs or fiefdoms. Under this feudal structure, manorialism emerged. Manorialism was the principal economic practice, as the lords were supported by the serfs under their rule. Peasants became tied to the land and had to work the land in exchange for their safety, which was provided by from the lords of the lands which they worked.

In a wider perspective, the flow of trade lessened as feudal states became self-sufficient in ways and closed off from neighbouring countries. The crusades near the end of this period opened up the West to diverse, international cultures. Trade increased with the growing interactions between the West and the Middle East.  Increased trade would help coax the West out of the Dark Ages and into the Renaissance.

North Africa

There were 3 major regions/civilizations in North Africa during this time period and they were: Kush, Axum and the Swahili Coast. Many interactions took place in North Africa during this time. Such interactions include the introduction of Islam (due to the Muslim invaders). 

Trade occured through the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, and some trade also took place through the Indian Ocean into Southeast Asia. The Kush was established around 750 B.C.E. and it became a center for iron. The next empire was Axum and it traded ivory and gold very frequently with other civilizations. Wealth that occured from the trade helped generate these civilizations and political, along with economical, relationships were easily established among other African civilizations.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Causes of change were caused by the need of certain resources in Sub-Saharan Africa. Gold was the key resource that everyone wanted; therefore it promoted trade. And due to the drastic increase in trade, Islam also began to spread.

Soon, many rulers began expanding their own empires. For example, Mansa Musa who was a Mali ruler, established his capital at Timbuktu and he also further expanded his empire. Sonnai Ali, a Songhai ruler, also expanded his empire into the west and he founded a university for scholars. Oral literature (a.k.a. griots) also increased, causing history and culture to be passed down from gerneation to genartion in the form of stories.

MesoAmerica

During this time, there was a lot of interregional competition between the polities in the region. The Aztecs came to power during the 900's and started to build their empire by taking over their adversaries.

Andean America

Expansion of the Incas from the Andes to the whole west South American coast. The Incan rulers used split-inheritance to acquire as much land as possible in order to make up for lost monetary values that were taken by the previous ruler.

Politics – Ummayad and Abbasid Caliphates

Gold and silver became the monetary and expnasion occured. The empire was expanded into parts of Spain and northern Africa. Due to the split with in the Islam rleigion: Shiite and Sunnis, the Ummayad Caliphate began to decline. 

The Abbasid Caliphate lasted from 750 to 1258 and trade played a major role in all affairs. There were some fights for control over the Silk Road. Military and cultural expansion continued and during the Middle Ages, interactions between Greece, Rome and the Abbasid Empires were present.

For both empires, trade, intercation, and expansion, along with religion, played key roles in their political structures and politics in general Webmail. 

Arts

Since Muslims were forbidden to worship idols, paintings of people and animals were prohibited. Instead, the art concentrated in geometric patterns and calligraphy. Muslims created the dome, which was later adopted by the Byzantines. This was used to decorate Mosques along with holy scriptures and shapes. One example of this is the Persian rugs

Science and Technology

Muslims contributed greatly to Science and Mathematics. They impoved on the algebra system, introduced sine, cosine and tangent. and based their number system off of the number 60, which we still use today. The Muslims also preserved learnings of the Greeks and Romans which they passed onto the Europeans via the Crusades. Technology wise, they invented many new instruments for navigation and cartiography. They adopted the Indian number system which found its way to Northern Africa and subsequently Europe

Trans-Sahara trade

Mali traded with Arab traders which helped spread Islam throughout Africa. Ghana was the "land of gold", and so gold, salt, honey, slaves, and ivory was traded out of Africa and copper, horses, textiles, figs, and iron was imported into Africa (Mali) from Europe and the Islamic world.

Indian Ocean trade

The Indian Ocean Trade was dominated by the Arabs and the Persians during this time. Trade occured in the western ports of western India up to ports in the Persian Gulf and ports in eastern Africa. Cultural exchange occured when intermarriage occured bewteen sailors and local women of the different ports. This connecting force also lead to the spread of Islam to South East Asia.

Silk routes

Silk road connected China to the Mediterranean cultures. It was increasingly used when the Mongols ruled, for Mongols acted as a safe passageway for people such as the Europeans. As technology improved in China, trade increased. Paper, gunpowder, porcelain, along with culture were traded along the silk routes. Marco Polo, at the time of the Yuan Dynasty, used the Silk routes to travel east to Asia, then later wrote a book about it. 

The Silk "Road" is a misnomer, for actually it was many roads, many slender filaments originating in thousands of towns and cities all over eastern China. 

Missionary outreach of major religions

As many different religions came into contact, cultural diffusion occured. Sailing methods, along with ships, improved, giving missionaries easier access to other areas and thus making it easier for them to spread their religion. Times of hardship for some groups also caused persuasion to become easy and more people converted.

Contacts between major religions

The most major religious conflict is the Crusades during the 11th-13th centuries (continuing on to the 16th century, but in smaller excursions). These were fought between European Christians and Middle Eastern Muslims over religious spots such as Jerusalem. However, this interaction was beneficial to trade between the two regions, resulting in cultural interaction and the spread of ideas and technology between the areas though the exchange had a greater impact on how Europe rediscovered the works of the Greeks and Romans as well as adapting new technologies such as gunpowder. This had significant impact on the Europeans, but not so much on the Muslims.

Mongol impact

The Mongols facilitated trade and cultural interaction because as such a large empire, peaceful trade routes connected most of the Asian landmass allowing easy long distance trade. Also, since they were religiously tolerant, there were different cultures inside the empire which allowed the spread of different ideas. However, countries not included in the Mongol empire were not able to benefit from this trading and cultural interaction. 

Japan

The Chinese were the ones who introduced Buddhism to the Japanese through the use of Buddhist missionaries. Through Buddhism, Chinese culture and goods were also spread through out Japan. Some of China's bureacratic and legal reforms were also copied by the Japanese because of the success these reforms had during the Tang Dynasty in China. However, confucianism was not widely accepted in Japan, along with the civil service exams because these affected the hierarchy system in Japan. The Japanese hierarchy emphasized birth in social class status, instead because the status of social classes can only be determined based on someone's birth.  Therefore, the civil service exams and Confucianism stressed education and in Japan, birth into classes was looked upon as more significant and important in comparison to education. Hence, Chinese sinified culture selectively influenced Japan. 

Korea

Due to the military forces in China during the Tang dynasty, cultural exchange increased in Korea. Korea became a vassal state to China and schools and imperial courts in Korea began to resemble those in China. However, a true bureaucracy based on education was not established due to the nobility in Korea. Still, some bureaucracy styles from the Chinese were adapted within Korea.  The Chinese, however, also spread Confucianism and Chan/Zen Buddhism through out Korea. Korea had to pay tribute to China in return of protection against invasions and in show of superiority of China. Korea also borrowed the Chinese writing, and adopted artwork/ monastic designs. Therefore, Chinese sinified culture influenced Korea. 

Vietnam

The Vienamese frequently resisted the Tang armies and they did not want to create a relationship with the Chinese. However, a relationship was eventually created and a Confucian education and extended family system was adopted in Vietnam. The Vietnamese continued to revolt against the Tang armies.

Southeast Asia

Big number of people converts to Buddhism.   

Central Asia

Buddhist surge that adapted to local conditions. 

Western Europe

Eastern Europe

Political

Many Small Feudal Kingdoms, each with their own lord.  

Empire with a complex bureaucracy that involved various alliances and connections. Extensive use of Spies.

Economic

Not much contact with outside world. Kingdoms almost self-sufficient. Some small scale trade going on within feudal communities. 

A lot of trade, escpecially with Islamic and mediterranean societies. Byzantine is the ideal location for trade

Religious

All aspect of life was dominated by the Roman Catholic Church. Other branches began appearing, causing a variation in Christianity. Crusades started by the church

Main religion was Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Central figure was the Patriarch.  Spread religion to Bulgurs and Kievan Rus

Cultural and social

Vernacular languages, mystery plays, few literary works- about saints, polyphonic music and stone buildings. However, Church services only spoke Latin. 

Church services in their own languages, local customs merged with church customs

Intellectual

Philosophical essays, literary works.. Knowledge passed on from Muslims 

developed a complex political system and extensive use of spies. 

Interactions

Crusades was the major form of interaction with the outside world. It opened up trade routes that enabled trade. The Hanseatic League was also formed

Constant trade interactions with the East. Used the silk road and smuggled silk worms back to Constantinople 

Maya

Mayans had many city-states and these city-states were ruled by one king. The peasants were bound to the nobles through religion and loyalty. They built agricultural terraces and irrigation systems. The economy was based on agriculture. The Mayans heavily believed in and relied on their gods for many things such as their harvests or their agricultural needs. The Mayans made sacrifices to their gods and they also had bloodletting rituals to please their gods. There was a social pyramid in the Mayan society, where nobility were on top along with priests. Merchants did, however, have a commendable status in society.

Aztec

The Aztecs had an outstanding army and this was how they were able to conquer nearby lands. In the Aztec civilization, the warriors in the social structure were the elite and most of the population consisted of either slave sor peasants. There was no bureaucratic government, the conquered states governed themselves if they payed tribute asked for from them. The military and the religion were connected because those they conquered through the use of their strong military we used as sacrifices for their gods. The Aztecs built temples to cherish their gods. The economy was also based mainly around agriculture.  They built a agricultual floating island called a "chinampa".  They were able to irrigate and farm on these chinampas.  Maize, grown on chinampas, was the most important food grown by the Aztecs.

Inca

The Incas also used a professional army and they had a bureaucarcy. The Incas built many roads and tunnels and they had a common language. Much of the Incan population consisted of peasants and they were supposed to give part of their harvest to the ruling classes. The Incan people were polytheistic, however, their main god was the sun god. They practiced human sacrifice and the rulers were mummified after they died. The Inca were very good architects and they built many temples. However, they didn't have much merchants and/or made trading contacts. 

Aztec migrations

The Aztecs continuosly conquered other states because of their powerful military forces. The taxed their captives and those who they conquered. As the Aztecs conquered more and more people, their empire increased in size and their cities grew in importance. Due to the increase in labor because of the conquering done by the Aztecs, construction of roads was made easier, thus increasing trade and also increasing the relliance on cities within the empire. The roads also connected the empire. 

Mongol migrations

As the Mongols expanded their empire, they brought more and more cultures under one banner. This, along with the fact that people could practice whatever religion they wanted, led to interactions across Eurasia. More people migrated as roads became safer to travel. Because of Mongol unification, the flow of trade increased in Mongol territories.

Turkish migrations

Seljuk Turks challenged the Persians who eventually united with the Turks. Invasion of Anatolia led to establishment of Turkey. 

Viking migrations

Vikings used light but large boats to transport troops upriver, but they also sailed around the seas; mainly attacked small coastline towns and cities in Europe, forcing Europeans to improve military along coastal cities and build more inland. 

Bantu migrations

1000 BCE began to move from homeland of west central Africa, by 1000 CE had settled in almost all parts of continent South of Africa, they played the greatest role in shaping cultural, ethnic and linguistic character of Africa 

Arab migrations

Trade oriented but also to spread the Islamic faith.

Plague/Black death

The Black Death devasted European populations since 1348. Almost 25% of people died in Western Europe and entire cities were wiped out. The Bubonic Plague resulted in an equal social class as people had to fill in the jobs of those who were dead. It also kept birthrate in check for a short while. This disease started in China, and was spread to Europe due to the contact with Chinese people on the silk road.  

Urbanization

Urbanization was a result of growing population and increased in birthrate. People migrated from rural areas to cities looking for work. This led to a further increase in birth rates. Also, vast population growth resulted in poorly planned cities. 

Direct Comparisons – 1 or 2 similarities – 2 or 3 differences

Japanese and European feudalism

Similarities: They had the same type of social and political structure. Military Based, both warriors had honor codes

Social structure of Japan: Shogun, Daimyo, Emperor

Bushido was the honor code the Samurai followed, not unlike the honor code of medieval knights

Differences: Japanese was solely based on group identity and loyalty while European was on contracts. Also the Japanese system was based of Chinese Confucian Morality, while the European Feudalism was based off from the Roman Legal Structure

Difference: Treatment of women was better in Europe than Japan. In Europe, noblewomen were given few rights but were adored. However, in Japan, women lacked freedom with a harsh life.

Direct Comparisons – 1 or 2 similarities – 2 or 3 differences

Political institutions E and W Europe

D1: Politically, Western Europe was a feudal-based relationship, with manorialism providing rural protection, while Eastern Europe (Byzantine) was an authoritarian empire with military protection.

D2: Western Europe was fragmented and separate, with declining trade, while Eastern Europe was united and stable with prosperous trade with Africa and Muslims.

S: Both faced pressures from outside forces. 

Social institutions E and W Europe

S: Christianity and the Church unite people under a same banner

D: Lots of cultural and commercial conections with other civilizations in the Byzantine Empire, while Western Europe went into a dark age.

D: Self sufficient manor with peasants who provide food in a protection relationship in W.E., Byzantine Empire had field enclosures and peasant rebellions. 

Direct Comparisons – 1 or 2 similarities – 2 or 3 differences

Song China v. Delhi Sultanate

S: Both had progress done to cities, with the Delhi Sultanate building colleges, improved irrigation systems and mosques, the Song had a surge in urban growth. There were many large cities as towns grew quickly and the number of people living in large cities in China have been as high as ten percent. The Song dynasty cities were urban centers and the biggest was Hang Zhou in size, beauty and sophistication. Either way, both societies cities contributed to greater trade growth.

D1: For the function of cities, the ones in the Song Dynasty was considerably more secular than the ones of the Delhi Sultanate. One reason might be becuase the first invasion of Islam to India. Islam and Hinduism are practically opposites and so, there was great effort put into the conversion of Hindus to Islam. For the Song Dynasty, Confucianism evolved into Neo-Confucianism. 

Song China v. Abbasid Caliphate

S: Both had women's status deteriorate in the later eras by confining them to homes, harems and rulers had the increased number of concubines. Both were patriarchal societies. Both empires diminished in size during their years of decline and both empires had Mongol invasions. 

D1: Women were able to control political power in Song China than the Abbasids. 

D2: The Abbasid Caliphate spent too much money on exorbitant goods (i.e. luxury) and harems. In fact, their spending led them to lose their power and control. Yet, this made them an easy target for their enemies like the Mongols.  

Song China v. Medieval Western Europe

S: Women and children were confined to the home. Both were patriarchal societies since they were agriculture-based societies. Both had kings/emperors as rulers at the top of the social hierarchy and peasants at the bottom of the social ranking. Plus, both used landlords to control the peasants. 

D1: Feudal communities in Western Europe were only united by the Catholic Church. Also, lords controlled their peasants in manors. 

D2: China emphasized the scholar-gentry since they valued intelligence. In addition, the scholar-gentry held power.  

Song China v. Ghana/Mali/Songhay

S: They were ruled by kings. Both had a flow of culture and commerce at the pinnacle of their empires and traded w/each other in the Indian Ocean Trade. 

D1: Song China's intellectual rise was influenced by Neo-Confucianism in the later years. Ghana/Mali/Songhay had no form of philosophy. 

D2: Oral historians/griots were used for telling the histories of Africa. China only has written records of their history. 

600 CE situation

1450 CE situation

Reasons for change or continuity.  What happened?

Arabia

Births islam

Islam 

Muhammad the Prophet. 

Fertile Crescent

Primarily islamic 

Nil 

Merchant outreach. Commercial success- join this religion and you will reap the benefits of trading with other countries that are of that religion too. 

Western Europe

Christian 

Christian- Eastern and Western 

People stopped believing in polytheistic views and decided to choose a monotheistic view that was more abstract.  Would have reminence of the old religion in some traditions. Missionary activity was primary though. 

South Asia

Local Gods & Idols

Many places adopt islam

Caliphate and Islam spread to nw south asia (Upper inda and pakistan)

East Asia

Confucianism & Daoism

Athiesm  Buddhism and Confucianism

Government influence and rigidness, as well as foriegn merchants and travelers coming and spreading their ideas and philosophy

Sub-Saharan Africa

slowly adopts islamic views 

Nil 

Latched on to dominant influence (Arab trade). Spiritual appeal. Missionary activity.

Direct Comparisons – 1 or 2 similarities – 2 or 3 differences

Political

The Aztecs and the Incas both had professional armies. However, the Aztecs did not have a bureaucracy and the Incas did. Also, the Aztecs heavily taxed their captives and the Incas made their captives give part of their harvests to the ruling family.  

Economic

Both empires had an economy that was mainly based on agriculture. The Incas had to base their labor source aroung humans because hey did not have any large animals. The Aztecs also gained profit through the taxes they placed over those who they conquered.

Religious

Both empires practiced human sacrifice. The Incas were polytheistic. However, they believed that the sun god was the most important one. The Aztecs tied their religous beliefs with their military practices, and religion played a very big role for the purpose of capturing and conquering people. The Aztecs used their religion in expansion more than the Incas, who followed the practice of split-inheritance instead.

Cultural and social

Both empires had social structures. Women from both empires were skilled at weaving. In the Aztec empire, however, warriors were the elite and merchants had a good status. The Incas allowed women to pass property onto their daughters and women were allowed to play certain roles in religion, and in the Aztec empire, women were seen as subordiante.

Intellectual

Both empires had good military strategies, especially the Aztec empire. The Incas created a writing system known as quipu, which was a language that used ropes and strings. The Aztecs, however, had a common language that they created.

Interactions

Both empires conquered nearby lands, especially the Aztec empire. The Aztecs allowed their conquered people to govern themselves as long as they paid tribute that was asked of them because there was no other official form of government. The Incas had a smaller population in comparison to the Aztecs and they did sacrifice humans, but they chose sacrificing goods or animals instead of humans. The Incas also didn't have much contacts w/other civilizations since they lived in isolation. 

Arab Caliphate

represented the political leadership of the Islamic Civilization.    The head of state's position is based on the notion of a successor to the Islamic prophet Muhammad's political authority.

Mamluks

Muslim slave warriors, that established a dynasty in Egypt. They defeated the Mongols at Ain Julat in 1260 and halted thir advance.

Feudalism

Feudalism is a system in which military elites, usually landlords, are linked to one another. Feudal lords with more power protected lesser lords with protection. In return, these lesser lords, called vassals, gave tributes to the greater lord and gave military aid as well. A powerful lord could afford many vassals. Charlemagne created extensive feudal relationships by rewarding his military leaders with estates; as a result, he gained their loyalty and service. Feudalism is a term used to describe the relationship between lords, not lords and peasants.

Japan had a feudal society around the same time as Europe adapted to a feudal society. In Europe, there was a feudal contract, which was a set of obligations set by the law and in Japan, the arrangement was ased on loyalty and groups.

Manorialism

This is the political, economic, and social system that many serfs were dependent on their land. This was a system that involved a hierarchy of reciprocal obligations or duties that exchanged labor/rents to use the land.

Crusades

This was a series of military expeditions/conquests launched by the Christians of the West to free the Holy Land from the Muslims. The crusades were a cause for the decline of feudalism because serfs could go to fight in the crusades and obtain their own land. The crusades also allowed more flow of information and ideas like Greek learning lost in previous invasions and advances the Muslims had made in math and sciences.

Vikings

Seafaring Scandinavian raiders from areas such as: Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, that disrupted and looted areas of Coastal Western Europe from the 8th to 11th centuries. The impact of this was the fact that it reflected and prolonged the West's weakness, making it difficult for the establishment of long durable government and/or economic reforms.

Mongols

Were Central-Asian nomadic people's that, united under a commander, started their raids in 1220; then they moved on to smash the Turko-Persian Kingdom that had developed in the regions close to Baghdad. They then continued their conquests throughout the rich centers of the Islamic Civilizations in 1250. After this they destroyed the city of Baghdad, and moved on to defeat the mamluks - turkish slaves.

Papacy

is the system of Church government headed by the Pope of the Roman Catholic Church

Indian Ocean Trade

In the classical period, trade was dominated by Indian merchants. It was the where the Mediterranean, Middle east, North African and European cultures could meet. The Indian ocean trade created Indian influence in Southeast Asian countries like Thailand, parts of Indonesia, Vietnam, and Burma.