finals Flashcards
Why is the Indus Valley different from all the other ancient civilizations
the lack of evidence for an organized state
Where did Hammurabi spread his law?
in Mesopotamia
What were the first civilizations
Sumer, Egypt, Nubia, Olmecs, Shang Dyn. (China), Norte Chico, Oxus, and Indus Valley
Where and what was the oldest known civilization
Sumer, in Mesopotamia (aka Fertile Crescent/Modern Iraq)
Where was the Indus Valley civilization
Modern Pakistan
What provided the primary economic foundation for civilization
Agriculture
What was Uruk
Mesopotamia’s largest city
What laid at the heart of the First Civilizations
cities
What served as political/administrative capitals, centers of cultural productions, places of local and long-distance trade, and centers of manufacturing activities
cities
What was the Code of Hammurabi
a law which dictated Babylonian punishments and was dependent on class
What was the vast majority’s class in the first civilizations
free commoners
What class was always at the bottom of class heirarchies
slaves
Where were slaves drawn from in the first civilizations
Prisoners of War, criminals, and debtors
What helped cause the emergence of patriarchy the most in the first civilizations
agriculture
Did social class affect gender roles (specifically in the first civilizations)
Yes
Where was patriarchy lighter on women in the first civilizations
Egypt
What was central to the organization and stability of the first civilizations
states
In the first civilizations was patriarchy a legal and/or idea
it was legal (there were written laws on it) and ideal
What did rule by divine right do (first civilizations)
limited needed force to coerce people
What was the largest and most impressive empire in 500 B.C.E.?
The Persian Empire
Who expanded the Persian Empire from Egypt to India
Cyrus and Darius
What was the religion of the Persian Empire
Zoroastrianism
Where was advanced irrigation within the first civilizations
Mesopotamia
Who had more population, the Persian Empire or the Greeks
Persians
How did Classical Greece expand
colonization
Where (which city) was the first democracy developed
Athens
Where was the point of collision between Persia and Greece
Ionia
Why was there collision in Ionia
because ionian greeks revolted (supported by athens) against the Persians
When was the 50 year golden age of Greek culture
after the Persian wars
Who was the feature of the Hellenistic era and created a massive greek empire stretching form Egypt to Afghanistan/India
Alexander the Great
What did the Egyptians regard/anoint Alexander the Great as
the pharaoh and “son of the gods”
What happened to Alexander’s Greek empire after he died
it was divided into 3
How did Rome start
as a small and unimportant city-state
What did Rome form after it overthrew monarchy
a republic
What was special about the Roman army
their skill and brutality
What were upper-class men defined as in the Roman Empire
soldiers and land owners
What did pax romana bring to the Roman Empire
security and relative prosperity
What is Legalism
clear rules and harsh punishments
What dynasty unified China after the age of warring states
the Qin
What followed the Qin dynasty
the Han dynasty
How did Roman and Chinese emperors claim supernatural sanctions?
dead Roman emperors were regarded as gods and Chinese emperor was considered the Son of Heaven
What foreign religion did the Roman Empire absorb
Christianity
What foreign religion did the Chinese absorb from traders
Buddhism
Which of the two was more culturally fragmented? China or the Roman Empire
the Roman Empire
Where was bureaucracy more elaborate? China or the Roman Empire
China
Why did the Han Dynasty and Roman Empire fall
the empire was too big, expensive, tax evasion, instability, and disease (5)
What is the most important difference between Chinese and Roman empires fall
what happened after their downfall
What happened after the Han fell
300 years of disorder but later reunification on a similar scale
What happened after the Roman Empire fell
fragmentation and no successful large-scale imperial system again
Why was China more successful in restoration than the Roman Empire
Romans were a minority, had weaker bureaucratic tradition, and less productive agriculture (3)
Who were the two important figures in China
Confucius and Laozi
What is the principle of Confucianism
the moral example of superiors is the solution to disorder
Who collected Confucius’ teachings and where were they put
his student collected them and put them in the Analects
What became the ideology of China after the discrediting of Legalism
Confucianism
What did Confucius believe the key to human improvement is
education
What are the Confucian virtues for ideal men called
wen and wu (physical abilities)
How was Daoism the opposite of Confucianism
education as mostly useless and encouragement of withdrawal to nature
What is dao
the way of nature
How did elite Chinese often regard Daoism compared to Confucianism
They regarded it as a complement to Confucianism
How did Hinduism develop
it developed along with Indian civilization
To what religion did the Vedas belong
Hinduism
By who were the Vedas compiled
the Hindu Brahmins (priests)
What was developed in response to dissatisfaction with the brahmins
the Upanshids
What is the ultimate goal according to the Upanishads
moksha- unity of atman (human soul) and brahman (the world soul/ultimate reality)
what is samsara
Hindu reincarnation
What legitimated and expressed
India’s gender system
Hinduism
What is was a legitimate goal for men and women according to the kamasutra
sex
Who was the Buddha
Siddhartha Gautama
What is the central Buddhist teaching
life is suffering
What other religion did Buddhism have elements from
Hinduism
Did Buddhism challenge Hinduism
yes
What was the rigid hierarchy in India called
the caste system
To who did Buddhism appeal
lower castes
Which Buddhism thinks of Buddha as god
Mahayanna
Who is the god of Zoroastrianism
Ahura Mazda
What was the foundation for both Christianity and Islam
Judaism
What was the key element of the Greek way of knowing
the way questions were asked (argument, logic, questioning of
received wisdom)
What were some Greek thinkers
Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates
Did Greek rationalism spread
it spread widely
What was Siddhartha Gautama’s life like (his class)
he was royalty
What was Jesus’ class
he was from a lower-class family
Who were wisdom teachers that challenged conventional ideas?
Buddha and Jesus
Were both Jesus and Buddha spiritual seekers?
yes
What was different about Jesus’ teachings and Buddha’s
Jesus’ teaching was more social than political and he was active for much shorter than Buddha
What was different about Jesus’ death and Buddha’s
Jesus was executed and Buddha died of old age
Who spread Chrisitanity
Paul
How did the Roman Empire use Christianity
like a “social glue”
What did Buddhists clash over
interpretation of the Buddha’s teachings
What do the Jews believe is a covenant
a relationship with Yahweh (God)
What did Buddhists who clashed over interpretation have a weaker sense of than Christians
“right” and “wrong”
Did the Agricultural Revolution happen all together
no it happened independently in several distinct areas
What did the Americas lack
nearly all animals
suitable for domestication
Where was metallurgy less developed
the Americas
Where was the most highly developed writing system in the first civilizations
the Mayans (in Mesoamerica)
who was cut from the rest of the world and had no outside interaction
Americas
Which was the most tropical of the worlds supercontinents
Africa
Who ruled Meroë
an all-powerful sacred monarch
What was the source
of much of wealth and military power in Meroë
major long-distance trade
When did Meroë decline
after 100 C.E.
Who conquered Meroë
Axum
Where was Axum located
in present-day Eritrea
and northern Ethiopia
What was Axum’s economic foundation
highly productive agriculture due to plows (most of Africa didn’t use plows)
What was the religion in Axum after the 4th century
Coptic Christianity
What capital city of Axum was a center of monumental building
Axum (in the interior)
Was there evidence of a state structure at the cities along the Niger River
No
Where there important civilizations before the Aztec and Inca empires in Mesoamerica
yes
Were Mesoamerican civilizations diverse
yes, they were very diverse
Did the Mesoamerican civilizations have interaction
Yes, they had frequent interactions
What cultural achievements did the Mayans have
development of advanced math system, elaborate calendars, creation of the most elaborate writing system in the Americas, and monumental architecture (4)
What was special about Mayan agriculture
it had large scale human engineering
How united was the Mayans
the city-states and regional
kingdoms were highly fragmented
Why did the Mayan civilization collapse
lack of resources, political disunity, and frequent war (3)
What was the America’s greatest city
Teotihuacán
Did Teotihuacán have an influence on Mesoamerica
they had a deep influence
Do we know much about Teotihuacán
much is unknown
“The historical processes of Africa and the Americas during the second-wave era (ca. 600 B.C.E. — 600 C.E.) largely resembled those of Eurasia in the same era.” To what extent is this statement accurate?
Similarities: trade networks, emergence of more complex societies, and cultural exchange (religion [Eurasia and Africa] and tech innovations [all])
Differences: writing systems and scale of empires
What form one of world’s most
extensive and sustained networks of exchange
The Silk Roads
What did the Silk Road provide to Eurasia
unity and cohearance
What did states in the last 5 centuries B.C.E. and second wave civilizations attempt to control
pastoral peoples
What benefits did large states provide for trade networks
security for trade
Why were luxury goods the main transport on the Silk Road
Because of high transport costs
Who was first to have a monopoly on silk
China
What symbolized the Eurasian exchange system, was used as currency in Central Asia, and was known as a symbol of high status
silk
What was more important than the exchange of goods on the silk road
the exchange of cultures
How did unfamiliar diseases spread
long-distance trade
How did almost half of the population of Europe die after the unification of much of Eurasia by the Mongols
the Black Death/Bubonic Plague
What helped Europeans when they reached the Western Hemisphere after 1500
disease exchange
What was the most important sea road network from the age of the first civilizations until 1500
The Indian Ocean network
What was an avenue for commerce for/since the Phoenicians
The Mediterranean Ocean
Where was transportation cheaper, sea or silk roads?
by sea
What made transportation of bulk goods possible
sea roads
What was discovered about wind which helped increase the tempo of commerce by sea
monsoons
What two things encouraged Indian Ocean trade
the economic and political revival of China and the rise of Islam in the 7th century
How did ocean commerce effect/transform Southeast Asia and East Africa
stimulation of political change and introduction of foreign religious ideas
What did Southeast Asia do to benefit from their strategic trade location
opening an all sea trade route in the Straits of Malacca (Malaysia) and made ports
What Malay kingdom emerged form competition and dominated trade from 670 to 1025 C.E.
Srivijaya
Where did elements of Chinese culture mostly spread to
Vietnam
Other than Buddhism what other religions spread to Southeast Asia
Hinduism (especially in Champas and Angkor) and Islam (came later)
What civilization developed from a blend of Bantu and flourishing in the commercial life in the Indian Ocean and inner Africa (also developing Islamic beliefs)
the Swahili civilization (of East Africa)
What were East African products
gold, ivory, quartz, leopard skins, slaves, iron, and wood products (7)
Where did much of the gold of East Africa come from
Zimbabwe
Where did Sand Roads start
West Africa
Where in Africa was there copper, salt deposits, and dates which were sold in the trans-African trade
in the Sahara
What was the most well known civilization in the Andes
the Incas
What was a turning point in Sand Road trade for West Africa which allowed people to cross the sahrara
camels
What did Saharan merchants especially want from West Africa
gold
What did trade encourage near the Saharan trade routes
new and larger political structures
What was the main religion which spread along the Sand Roads, their civilizations, as well as the Swahili civilizations
Islam
Who extended the Chinese canal systems vastly and started the golden age
the Sui dynasty
What exhausted the Sui’s state resources and caused the dynasty to be overthrown (state not disintegrated though)
their ruthlessness and failure to conquer Korea
What two dynasties were built on Sui foundations
the Tang and Song
What did the Tang and Song create in their governments
six major ministries and a Censorate (which dealt with surveillance of the government to ensure order)
What happened in the Song dynasty that contributed to it’s prosperity and to the golden age
an economic revolution
What was most production in China for
the market rather than local consumption
Although it was the golden age what inequality was worse than before in the Song and Tang
gender hierarchy (ex. foot binding)
With who was China’s more enduring interaction which included intrusion and pressure
the northern nomads
Why did the Chinese need the nomads even though they thought of themselves as the center of the world
steppes provided horses and other goods and they controlled much of the silk road
What was established in China to manage relations with non-Chinese peoples
the tribute system
What did the tribute system require
non-Chinese authorities must acknowledge Chinese superiority (through a series of bows named kowtow) and present a tribute to the emperor
What did a non-Chinese person gain from the Chinese tribute system
he would receive trading privileges and
“bestowals” in return (often worth
more than the tribute)
What problems were presented with the tribute system
stronger nomadic states would simply extort China
Which nomads adopted Chinese ways
nomads who ruled parts of China
What was a fad among elites in the Tang dynasty that came from outside influence
anything connected
to “western barbarians”
What did the Korean states resist even though they rivaled one another
Chinese political control
What did Korea try to replicate from the Chinese
court life and administration
What happened to Korea’s attempt to replicate the Chinese examination system
it didn’t gain prominence
Where was Vietnam’s cultural heartland which was controlled by China from 111 BCE to 939 CE
the Red River valley
What did Vietnam try to replicate from the Chinese
The Chinese approach to government
What Tang and Song policy led to the proliferation of schools and colleges
the revision of the exam system
Where did people voluntarily borrow Chinese culture without being invaded or conquered
Japan
What was Japans writing system mixed with
Chinese characters with phonetic symbols
Which region’s prosperity stimulated commercial life all over Eurasia
China
What are the fundamental differences between births of Islam and Christianity
Islam did not grow up as persecuted minority religion and Islam didn’t separate “church” and state
What did tolerated non-Islamic people living under Islamic occupation have to pay
a tax for not being Muslim (جِزْيَة: jizya)
What were the first 4 islamic caliphs (the Rightly Guided
Caliphs, 632–661) relation with Muhammad
they were companions of
Muhammad
How did Shia Muslims believe the next caliph should be chosen
they believed leaders should be blood relatives of Muhammad, descended from Ali and his son Husayn
How did Sunni Muslims believe the next caliph should be chosen
they believed caliphs were rightful
political and military leaders, chosen by the Islamic community
What was a driving force in the contraction of Christianity in Africa and Asia
Islam’s spread
What is caesaropapism in the Byzantine Empire
the Church was closely tied to the state (emperor was head of church and state)
What did the Crusades target other than the Middle East
Byzantium
What happened to Persia after being weakened from the fight with the Byzantines
they were conquered by Islam
Who declared itself the 3rd Rome and assumed the role of protector of Christianity after the fall of Constantinople
Moscow
What was a major element of stability in western europe
the Catholic Church
What was the relationship between the Church and the ruling class
They usually reinforced each other but also had some competition as rival centers of power
What new idea replaced the original “warrior” idea of European masculinity
provider
What did political pluralism do to Western European civilization
it led to frequent wars and militarization and stimulated technological development
To what extent were developments in the world of Christendom from 600 to 1300 similar to those experienced in the worlds of Islam from 600 to 1450
Religious expansion and conversion, Ties between Church and State (Caliphs, Byzantine Emperor, etc.), and divison (shia/sunni and catholic/orthodox) (3)
