history final

Question 1

Vedas

Answer 1

sacred texts in sanskrit (hinduism)

Question 2

karma

Answer 2

influences your afterlife/reincanation (final goal is to escape rebirth and you will go to “heaven”) (hinduism)

Question 3

dharma

Answer 3

as duty and harmony (hinduism)

Question 4

Mit’a

Answer 4

labour tax (Inca)

Question 5

untouchables

Answer 5

• the lowest class in Indian society (hinduism), the untouchables needed to differentiate themselves from other citizens because they were so impure and could spread that onto higher class members (holding sticks, making sounds to alert higher class members of their presence).

Question 6

quipu

Answer 6

Inca and Andeans administration had runners with quipus that would have records of reports and communication between villages. They were vast colours and knotts.

Question 7

jainism

Answer 7

belief in nonviolence; life is suffering only when we have desires.
The mandate of heaven

Question 8

eunuch

Answer 8

Eunuch - (imperial figure/male system) in the Ming dynasty, these were castrated male slaves, although not influential was a privileged cast, cleaning cast in the palace, they advised the emperor within the palace and were eventually able to gain noble titles.

Question 9

kami

Answer 9

Kami - divine spirit in the religion of shintoism (always remaining pure) (Japan)

Question 10

Ayllu

Answer 10

Ayllu - a local clan in the inca society

Question 11

tumen

Answer 11

Tumen - Genghis Khan’s military strategies to call a group of his warriors of ten “brothers” (tumen=10,000).

Question 12

What were the foundations of hindu beliefs and the position of women in Indian society.

Answer 12

(1)Subordinate to men, but not secluded, “half a man”
(2)Considered naturally lustful - sex is art - it was their duty to have good sex - in the afterlife widows were watching because it affects their husbands death so she had to stay pure to protect him
(3) Hardships of widowhood and emergence of sati - step on funeral fire of their dead husbands, mostly a choice, sign of virtuous
(4) Importance of sexual life: kama sutra - to recieve pleasure - art of learning to be a better lover - this was a book of sex tricks for newly married couples - most lower cats would go to prostitute temples; but acquired 64 arts of signing , dances, gardening, architecture, highly qualified ladies so men had to bring huge sums of money to the temple to see one of these women
(5) Arranged marriages were considered based on horoscopes, thinking about personalities, love was to grow, your after life depend on your spouse, your souls will connect forever never an instance of divorce
(6) Women could practice religion but were expected to marry

Question 13

Explain the character significance of the reign of Empress Wu.

Answer 13

(1) Young courtesan and her climb to power
(2) Confucianism against Wu Zetian
The ruler as a mother reduction of the army, help to peasants, more public works, support for buddhism.
(3) She’s trying to appease all region and new scholars to get a better promotion; confusion scholars still disagree
(4) She presented herself as a mother to the county, She ruled as emperor for 15 years, 50 years behind her husband and removed her 1st son from the throne so she could rule, passing at the old age of 81.
(4) Her father was a merchant/warrior, wealthy mother - she became a concubine as she was beautiful the prior emperor fell in love with her and removed her from missionary - they got married and pregnant

Question 14

Explain traditional Chinese views on health and healing.

Answer 14

(1) Causes of illness; supernatural (gods, demons, ghosts, magic), natural (environment, bad karma), or combination of both - very detailed scripts and attitude to health - supernature or nature or both - karma = nature - ability to diagnose by the land - very serious, never cut, never surgery, restore chi energy, to release blocks from chi energy
(2) Life energies: qi (breath), saliva, and blood - always have to save those life energies (healers)
(3) Acupuncture as a restoration of qi flow
(4) Healers: shamans and doctors - reduce surgery, shouldn’t cause further harm to the body when it’s trying to heal
(5) The office of supreme medicine: physicians, acupuncturists, masseurs, masters of apothecary gardens - government of medicine structure
(6) Taoists; massage/aerobics, dances, visualization, diet - important source for healing; believe in all creatures (chakras) (creatures; devils, good, evil, angels) (they report once a month of all your doings but if you stay up all night they cant report) - visual/imagery, recommended exercise (breathing, diets, dances) can cure
(7) Buddhists: mostly caregivers - hospice

Question 15

What changes did the emperor Xuanzong (712-55) introduce? How did his reign end?

Answer 15

(1) The Golden Age
(2) Re-registration of households - order in state affairs, taxations, confucianism
(3) Expansion of the system of granaries
(4) Well trained professional armies in border regions - best time in this dynasty - very talented officials he hand picked
(5) Yang guifei affair - he fell in love with his sons concubine; they cant have a connection, so he turned her into a nun then back to his personal concubine - this woman was extremely powerful to the emperor - she was able to make her family of high power/ranking in the government
(6) An lushan rebellion (755-7) - no army in the capital
(7) The emeror retired to a monastery (don’t pay taxes)

Question 16

How were the great maritime expeditions of the Ming dynasty organized? Why did they stop?

Answer 16

They were expeditions to conquer more land, more commonly known through Christpher columbis
The chinese government stopped them (1) connecting desires of Ming Empire to have have full control over their civilization (2) Ming Empire wanted to send out a message that a new dynasty was ruling strongly (immense pride); during expeditions they found no other civilization had what they could offer (3) the world has nothing to offer, no desires China/Ming Empire couldn’t offer already.

Question 17

Describe main beliefs and rituals of shintoism.

Answer 17

(1) Vitalism is belief in the power of shintoism. The importance of vitality was reinforced by an emphasis on ritual purity.
(2) Kami is the divine spirit of beings living and departed, nature as a whole, and inanimate objects like mountains and streams.
(3) Amaterasu, the sun goddess, considered the ancestors of Japan’s emperors, purportedly starting with Jimmu in 660 BCE. Every Japanese emperor was considered a god in the shinto pantheon by believers.

Question 18

What changes did the Taika Reforms introduce? How effective were they?

Answer 18

(1) Based on the confucian principles (but not the mandate of heaven) - no mandate to heaven - the imperial family was divine; the concept of heaven wasn’t accepted.
(2) Japan was divided into provinces, prefectures, and sub-prefectures - land was so small they didn’t need to divide it up, but they followed in the way China did.
(3) Civil service and examination system
(4) Taxation based on landholding - belonged to emperor - plans changing could create administration, not enough confusion schools
(5) Partial failure of the reforms - now everyone was subjugated to pay - emperors started to give away estates to buddhists, some “free” estates never had to to pay taxes because they were “independent” - court was refined and religious and didn’t pay attention to administration.

Question 19

Explain the origin of the samurai.

Answer 19

Economic approach: local lords privatized the land and then armed themselves to protect it.
They were military men serving the elites; large amounts of land courts vs private; samurai were hired privately to protect and maintain borders.
Military approach: mounted warriors (1) some historians trust there was a change in military technology (2) new way of fighting/militarization produced the samurai.
Social cultural approach: outsiders (hunters, seamen, ect). (1) many legends portray samurai as outsiders of towns/communities (2) historians also believed as outsiders they would have to prove their power, so they would take on the largest power in the town/community

Question 20

Explain the difference in political administration between the Aztec and the Inca Empires.

Answer 20

Inca
(1) extensive bureaucracy, very totalitarian
(2) they had intense slave labour; how they were able to make huge pyramids
(3) relocations; any disagreements or conspiracy against the government, spies would report and the empire would disperse people in the villages to other villages to reduce the gossip.
(4) nobility came from blood lines and privilege. Social structure had local clans (ayllu), merchants (controlled by the state), and artisans.
Aztec
(1) No bureaucracy, only a tribute system.
(2)They were a moving civilization; they did not build mass structures. They did settle on an island in a lake.
(3) very similar to conscription teens of both genders started to be trained as warriors for the state.
(4) artisans were very skilled and praised in society, merchants were very secretive because it was dangerous to be rich so they would wear casual clothes during business to avoid being spied on.
(5) not run by the government entirely, local administration continued to rule left loose unification amongst city states.

Question 21

What were the main achievements of the Maya? How did our understanding of the Mayan culture change after their writing was deciphered?

Answer 21

Achievements
(1) they had amazing stone sculptures and were able to run a functional society without any writing/scripture, only sculptures to demonstrate religion/culture/history.
(2) created huge decorated pyramids/temples/palaces, “the city of the Gods” . limestone quarries in the northern lowland areas provided stone for construction. The volcanic south was quarried for its lava stone and was also rich in obsidian and jade.
(3) civilization was strong and independent; they had 15-17 dominant kingdoms, elite structures, stelae, ball courts, sweat houses, and commoner quarters.
Writing was deciphered into glyphic script maya developed a script of 800 images, pictograms standing for words; other syllables to be combined with other syllables to form words.
(1) breakthrough when scholars interpreted stelae monuments as records of royal births, accessions to the throne, and death. Since then scholars have assembled a dictionary of as many as 1,000 words, and it has become possible to chronicle the dynasties of the Maya kingdom.