Unit 1 (1200-1450) East Asia, Muslim World, Africa Flashcards
Dhows
-Small, slender boats with triangular sails that helped trade in the Indian Ocean
-Not good warships, just for trade (too small for cannons and lots of soldiers)
-Demonstrate the time period around 1200
Sufis
-Muslim holy men
-Often traveled on dhows
-Peacefully converted people to Islam
-Spread Muslim culture
Globalism
-The process of the world “coming together”
-Due to trade, nomadic invasions, and the spread of religion
-Most notable in Eurasia, but also in the Americas and Sub-Saharan Africa
What was a large reason for China’s success?
-Agriculture of wheat, millet, and wet rice
-Led to surplus, which allowed more specialization of bureaucracy
Silk Road
-Eurasian trade route
-Connected China to the West
Philosophies and religions in China
-Confucianism (main philosophy, men over women, influential in government, encouraged order, discipline, and education)
-Daoism (more spiritual and nature focused, harmony)
-Legalism (social order through strict laws and punishments)
-Buddhism (religion originated in India, but brought to China)
Qin Dynasty (221 BC-206 BC)
-First dynasty that was all of China, united
-Started by Qin Shi Huang Di
-Standardized weights/measures, language
-Dynasty system lasted until 1911
Han Dynasty (206-220 AD)
-Civil service exam established, merit based bureaucracy
-Paper invented, arts flourished
-Confucianism
-Large military created
-People still call themselves “People of the Han” because of how important this dynasty was
Scholar-gentry
-Civil servants/officials
-Often people with elite family connections due to literacy tests required
-Passed the civil service exam
-Educated in Confucianism
Sui Dynasty (581-618 AD)
-First dynasty since the Han to reunite China (had been 300 years)
-Grand Canal built (linked the Yellow and Yangtze rivers)
-Dynasty ended due to peasants rebelling after being forced to build the canal and lots of other labor (more building, fighting, etc)
Chinese Golden Age
-Tang and Song Dynasties (600-1200s)
-Also called “Medieval China”, just due to the Western timeline
-Inventions like wood block printing, gunpowder, compass
Tang Dynasty (618-906 AD)
-Emperor Tang Taizong expanded the use of civil service exams, allowed the empire to grow
-Lots of Buddhist influence
-Foreign relations: China was the Middle Kingdom, tributary states were subordinate
Buddhism during the Tang Dynasty
-More contact with other cultures through trade led to more foreign philosophies like Buddhism
-A special pagoda built in Chang’an held special Sutras (scriptures) brought from India by Xuanzang (Chinese monk)
-More Buddhism -> more printing technology because people wanted to copy scriptures
Xuanzang
-Chinese monk
-Brought sutras to the pagoda in Chang’an during the Tang Dynasty
Kowtow
-Ritual of kneeling before the emperor
-Envoys of tributary states did this to show their lesser status and obedience to the Middle Kingdom
-Gifts were sent to tributary states for their compliance
Song Dynasty (960-1279)
-Song Taizu had military leaders retire and replaced them with Confucian scholars (weakened the military)
-Internal prosperity was the focus (not conquering other areas)
Decline of the Song Dynasty
-Jurchens formed the Jin Empire in the north and forced the Songs south
-By the mid 1200s, even the south was no longer safe and the Mongols (Kubilai Khan)took over it
Southern Song
-Cutoff from silk road, so had to trade with ocean
-Led to more innovations with sea travel, like sternpost ruddrs, magnetic compass, ships with several masts
-Big cities developed in Southern Song
-Hangzhou was the capital
-Confucianism revived (people didn’t trust foreign stuff like Buddhism anymore), led to things like foot binding
Mongols
-Nomadic war-like people
-Largest connecting empire in history (Middle East to Korea)
-Kubilai Khan took over China
Singhasari
-Modern day Java
-Made an empire by trading with and taxing ships going through China and India
Neo-Confucianism
-Chinese Song scholars wanted to bring back Confucianism, so they combined it with the more spiritual Buddhism + Daoism (people didn’t just want philosophy)
-Shows syncretism
-Became the official Chinese philosophy
Tang vs Song China
-Both part of the golden age
-Both had inventions and trading
-Tang focused on military expansion and supported Buddhism
-Song was more focused on internal improvements and had a Confucian revival
Inventions of Tang/Song era
Porcelain, wood block printing, compass, gunpowder
Champa Rice
-Originally from Vietnam (tributary state)
-China spread it throughout the empire due to its ability to grow fast and resist disease
-Led to China’s population doubling