- Flashcards
classical era
- 600BCE - 600CE
- greek, roman, han, maurya, gupta, persians, mayans
hinduism
- earlist known organized religion
- written codes, class of religious leaders
- caste system
- indus river valley
- religious texts: vedas, upanishads, AFTER centuries of oral traditions - along w/ caste system, the strongest social glue in S asia
buddhism
unlike hinduism, it supported spiritual equality n missionary activity
- ‘reform’ of hinduism by prince siddhartha gautama
- began in S asia 500BCE
confucianism
- kong fuzi established codes of behavior, gender n family duties
- philosophy, NOT religion
- neo-confucianism emerged over time; included aspects of buddhism and daoism; promised eternal reward 4 faithfulness to confucian teachings (1200CE, E SE asia)
- sayings written after his death in The Analects
- beginning around 500BCE, when china was undergoing pol turmoil during warring states period, teachings of confucius became the bedrock of that society
- remained strong over the centuries
christianity
- reform of judaism
- jesus named disciple peter as 1st successor
han empire
- technology far ahead of civs of the same era
- capital - chang’an (modern day xi’an)
mandate of heaven
- emperor in china would stay in power as long as the heavens were satisfied w/ his rule. if dynasty died out of was overthrown, it’s sign that emperor lost mandate
- a continuity that added stability to society
- In China, peasant revolts were seen as a sign the emperor
might be losing his mandate of heaven.
chinese exam system
- began w/ han dynasty
- lasted until early 1900s
- possible but rare for low-born citizens to rise to political prominence
- state-sponsored exams
mediterranean civs
- classical greek n roman
- romans borrwed a lot from greeks
hellenism
blend of greek + local styles.
- spread by alex the great as he conquered the persian empire
- short-lived macedonian empire stretched from egypt to india
maurya/gupta empires
- south asia; geographically extensive n powerful
- maurya came first
- these empires were exceptions to the trend of political fragmentation in south asian history
- MAURYAN emperor ashoka was an early supporter of buddhist missionary activity
- gupta: concept of 0, efficient numbering system (introduced to west as ‘arabic numerals’), medical advacnes
bantu migrations
- occurred over classical n post-class era
- 1500 BCE - 1000 CE
- began in central africa
- bantu-speaking ppls migrated south and east, spreading a common language base, animal herding, agriculture knowledge, metal-working technology
- bantu langs became standard in S and E africa; ex: swahili
silk road
connected east asia to northern india and central asia
- indirectly to mediterranean, west africa, northern europe
- camel and horse caravan routes
indian ocean trade network
- connected to silk roads
- merchants carried religion (esp buddh + islam into E and SE asia) and exchanged items
- connected China and SE asia to africa, mid east, S asia
- depended on ocean currents and wind; merchants had to plan according to monsoon winds
- arab shipbuilding n navigation skills spread quickly along sea trade routes
fall of classical empires
- han (220CE)
- western roman empire (476)
- gupta (mid-500s)
trans-sahara trade
- impt west african trade centers: djenne, gao, timbuktu
- sahara is in north africa
- trade peaked 700s - 1500s
- CAMELS main mode of transport
- out of africa: gold, salt, animal hides, ivory, slaves
- in: islamic faith (600 - 1450), camels
caliphate
- unlike christianity, islam had no clear rules of succession after muhammad
- islam fragmented into regional states called caliphates, each led by a caliph
crusades
- series of christian vs muslim military campaigns for ‘holy land’ in SW asia and parts of byzantine empire
- 1096 - 1291
- politically, european christians failed to permanently regain much land, but Culturally, the Crusades resulted in great advancements
for the Europeans, who, for example, rediscovered
Roman and Greek literature that Muslim scholars had
maintained for centuries. - The science, math, and philosophies of those
Classicalcivilizations began an intellectual revival in 1300s, 1400s (renaissance) - This started western Europe on a path toward
global hegemony (control) in1800s
dar-al islam
- region in which islam is dominant
- spain and NW africa to S, SE asia
diffusion of religions
600 - 1450 C B I - C, I: "sword mission" by force - B, C : spread by missionary monks - trade routes
byzantine empire
- eastern roman empire, HQ constantinople (instanbul, turkey), continued for another thousand years after 476CE (until mid 1400s)
- constantinople: key center that linked trade routes
- greatest legal contribution: code of justinian - codification of Roman law that kept ancient
Roman legal principles alive - During most of its history, the Byzantine Empire was in
conflict with nearby Muslim caliphates and by the end
Ofthe period was On the verge of collapse at the hands
Of Muslim forces.
tang, song dynasties
under them, china
- had world’s largest population
- most adv tech
- most splendid cities
- they reestablished gov stability (after fall of han) in E asia, providing security, actively supported trade b land n sea
- GOLDEN AGE
sinification
spread of chinese culture. esp during tang and song dynasties, influence on korea, japan, vietnam
black death
- a pandemic disease
- aka bubonic plague
- may’ve originated along trade routes near black sea
- attr to expansion of trade under MONGOL rule in E, C asia
- from there, entered black sea region
- in mid-1300s, it wiped out as much as 1/3 of western europe’s population