3rd Six Weeks Flashcards
Trans-Sahara Trade
Trade of goods, people, and faith across North Africa’s Sahara desert peaked from the eighth century century CE to the 1500s. Camels were the main mode of transportation. Gold, salt, animal hides, and slaves were among the main items transported out of Africa to points east and north. Muslim merchants imported camels into the region; they also brought along their faith in Islam, which spread rapidly into North and West Africa. Three important West African trade centers along these trade routes were Djenne, Goa, and Timbuktu.
Islam Timeline
570 C.E. Muhammad is born in Mecca. He comes from a noble family and is well-known for his honesty and upright character.
610 C.E. According to Muslim belief, at the age of 40, Muhammad is visited by the angel Gabriel while on retreat in a cave near Mecca. The angel recites to him the first revelations of the Quran and informs him that he is God’s prophet. Later, Muhammad is told to call his people to the worship of the one God, but they react with hostility and begin to persecute him and his followers.
622 C.E. After enduring persecution in Mecca, Muhammad and his followers migrate to the nearby town of Yathrib (later to be known as Medina), where the people there accepted Islam. This marks the “hijrah” or “emigration,” and the beginning of the Islamic calendar. In Medina, Muhammad establishes an Islamic state based on the laws revealed in the Quran and the inspired guidance coming to him from God. Eventually he begins to invite other tribes and nations to Islam.
630 C.E. Muhammad returns to Mecca with a large number of his followers. He enters the city peacefully, and eventually all its citizens accept Islam. The prophet clears the idols and images out of the Kaaba and rededicates it to the worship of God alone.
633 C.E. Muhammad dies after a prolonged illness. The Muslim community elects his father-in-law and close associate, Abu Bakr, as caliph, or successor.
638 C.E. Muslims enter the area north of Arabia, known as “Sham,” including Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and Iraq.
641 C.E. Muslims enter Egypt and rout the Byzantine army. Muslims consider their conquest as the liberation of subjugated people, since in most instances they were under oppressive rule.
655 C.E. Islam begins to spread throughout North Africa.
661 C.E. Imam Ali is killed, bringing to an end the rule of the four “righteous caliphs”: Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, and Ali. This also marks the beginning of the Umayyad rule.
711 C.E. Muslims enter Spain in the west and India in the east. Eventually almost the entire Iberian Peninsula is under Islamic control.
732 C.E. Muslims are defeated at Potiers in France by Charles Martel.
750 C.E. The Abbasids take over rule from the Umayyads, shifting the seat of power to Baghdad.
1000 C.E. Islam continues to spread through the continent of Africa, including Nigeria, which served as a trading liaison between the northern and central regions of Africa.
Islam
First preached in Arabia in the seventh century CE by the prophet Muhammad, a merchant who preached monotheism. Islam (“submission”) united multiple polytheistic Arab tribes into a common faith. By the mid-700s, it had spread rapidly via trade routes out of southwest Asia across North Africa to Spain and eastward into northern India and Central Asia. Muslim merchants carried Islam into Southeast and East Asia.
Caliphate
Unlike Christianity, Islam had no clear rules of succession after Muhammad. Culturally, Islam united many peoples, but politically, it fragmented into regional states called caliphates, each led by a caliph. The AP Wold History exam asks more questions about the Abbasid caliphate than the Umayyad or Fatamid caliphates.
Crusades
A seriesn of Christian versus Muslim military campaigns for the “holy land” in Southwest Asia and for parts of the Byzantine empire. The major Crusades occurred sporadically from 1100 to 1300. Politically, European Christians failed to permanently regain much land, but culturally they reacquired much knowledge through contact with Muslims, including the reintroduction of Greek and Roman learning into Europe, which in turn sparked the Renaissance.
Dar-al Islam
Basically, Dar-al Islam is “everywhere Islam is” across Afro-Eurasia. In the era c. 600-1450, this term described the territory extending from Spain and Northwest Africa all the way to South and Southeast Asia. Dar-al Islam was not a unified political empire but a large region where Islamic faith and culture was dominant.
Diffusion of Religions
In the era c. 600-c. 1450, three religions spread far outside their places of origin: Christianity, Buddhism, and Islam. Buddhism and Christianity were spread by missionary monks. Conversions to Christianity and Islam were also done by “sword mission,” meaning by force. Like Buddhism, Islam was also spread peacefully by merchants along trade routes.
Byzantine Empire
Although the western Roman Empire fell in 476 CE, the eastern portion, headquartered in Constantinople, continued for another thousand years. (Byzantine comes form the original name of Constantinople, Byzantium.) This empire had major economic, social, and political influence over southern and eastern Europe, the Eastern Mediterranean, and Southwest Asia.
Tang and Song Dynasties
The Tang and Song dynasties were two of the most famous dynasties in all of Chinese history, not just in the era c. 600-c. 1450. Under the Tang and Song dynasties, China had the world’s largest population, the most advanced technology, and the most splendid cities. (How to remember them? “Drink some Tang and sing a Song.”)
Sinification
Think of “sinification” as the “Chinese-ification” of Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia. China was such a powerful neighbor; it was inevitable that nearby countries would follow its political, social, and economic examples.
Mayan States
The Mayan States were centered in Mesoamerica (southern Mexico and parts of Central America). Like the Egyptians, the Mayan civilization featured pyramids, large cities, a written language, and a complex society. Its height was during the American classical era of 250-900 CE. Tikal was an important Mayan city.
Coerced Labor
“Coerced Labor” includes slavery, serfdom, the corvee (government-required labor on public works projects), and indentured servitude. Forms of coerced labor existed across all civilizations and time periods. For the era c. 600-c. 1450, European serfdom is a common example of coerced example of coerced labor found on the AP World History exam.
Feudalism
In western Europe and in Japan in this era, many people served as agricultural workers for landowners, a system called feudalism. In both areas, regional armies fought over land rights at the bidding of their local lords. In Europe, elite warriors were called knights; in Japan, they were known as samurai.
Zheng He
Representing the power of the Ming dynasty, the explorer Zheng He led enormous expeditions that included huge treasure ships and thousands of sailors, and crossed the Indian Ocean and traveled to the Spice Islands of Southeast Asia in the early fifteenth century.
The Postclassical Era
•500 C.E.
-527-565: Justinian, Eastern Roman (Byzantine) emperor
-570-632: Muhammad
-589-618: Sui dynasty (China)
•600 C.E.
-610-613: Origins of Islam
-618-907: Tang dynasty
-634-750: Arab invasions in Middle East; spread of Islam in North Africa
-661-750: Ummayad Caliphate
-668: Korea becomes independent from China
•700 C.E.
-711: First Islamic attack in India
-718: Byzantines defeat Arab attack on Constantinople
-750: Abbasid caliphate
-777: Independent Islamic kingdoms begin in North Africa
•800 C.E.
-800-814: Charlemagne Empire in western Europe
-c. 855: Russian kingdom around Kiev
-864: Cyril and Methodius missionaries in eastern Europe
-878: Last Japanese embassy to China
•900 C.E.
-960-1127: Song dynasty (China)
-968: Tula established by Toltecs (Mesoamerica)
-980-1015: Conversion of Vladimir I of Russia
•1000 C.E.
-1000: Ghana Empire at its height (Africa)
-1054: Schism between Eastern and Western Christianity
-1055: Seljuk Turks control Abbasid caliphate
-1066: Norman conquest of England; rise of feudal monarchy in western Europe
-1096-1099: First Christian Crusade to Palestine
•1100 C.E.
-c. 1100: Invention of explosive powder (China)
-1150: Disintegration of Toltec Empire
-1150-1350: Spread of Gothic style; scholasticism in western Europe
-1185-1333: Kamakura Shogunate (Japan)
•1200 C.E.
-1200: Rise of empire of Mali
-1206: Delhi sultanate in India
-1231-1392: Mongols rule Korea
-1236: Capture of Russia by Mongols
-1258: Capture of Baghdad by Mongol; end of Abbasid caliphate
-1260: Death of Sundiata
-1265: First English parliament
-1279-1368: Mongol Empire in China
-1290s: Islam begins to spread to Southeast Asia
•1300 C.E.
-1320s: Europeans first use cannon in war
-1320-1340: Bubonic plague breaks out in Gobi desert and spreads to other parts of Asia
-1325: Rise of Aztec Empire
-1338-1453: Hundred Years’ War in Europe
-1350: Rise of Incas (Andes)
-1392-1910: Yi dynasty (Korea)
•1400 C.E.
-1400: End of Polynesian expeditions
-1405-1433: Chinese trading expeditions
-1439: Portugal acquires Azores
-1453: Turks capture Constantinople; end of Byzantine Empire
-1471-1493: Peak of Inca Empire
