Intro to Part Three:
The Third Wave Era
The different patterns of development within particular civilizations have made it difficult to define the Third Wave era in a single, all-encompassing fashion. During this time, the world's various regions, cultures, and peoples interacted with one another far more frequently and extensively. The change in human societies was the result of contact with strangers. In places like island Southeast Asia, coastal East Africa, Central Asian cities, parts of Western Europe, the Islamic Middle East, and the Inca Empire were all cosmopolitan regions that emerged in trade, migration, and an empire bringing together different cultures. These were "mini-globalizations" and they were not totally isolated or separate from their neighbors.
- One pattern of interaction was in long-distance trade which grew along the Silk Roads of Eurasia, within the Indian Ocean basin, across the Sahara, and along the Mississippi and other rivers. Another pattern of interaction was in large empires. They incorporated many distinct cultures within a single political system; but their size and stability also provided the security that encouraged travelers and traders to journey long distances from their homelands. And the largest of the empires created the existence of nomadic or pastoral peoples. Technology also diffused widely: in China, there was monopoly on the manufacture of raw silk. But, this technology spread far beyond E. Asia and this allowed the development of the silk industry in the eastern Mediterranean and later in Italy. In India, they had crystallized sugar, a system of numerals and the concept of zero, techniques for making cotton textiles, and many food crops. In the Americas, corn gradually diffused. The Plague, also known as the Black Death, also destroyed many parts of Eurasia and North Africa.
Ch. 7
Commerce & Culture (500-1500)
Trade affected the lives of working people, encouraging them to specialize in producing particular products for sale in distant markets rather than for use in just their own communities. Trade reduced the economic self-sufficiency of local societies as it changed the structure of the societies. Trade also had the capacity to transform political life. With controlling and taxing trade, the wealth available motivated the creation of states in different parts of the world. It helped sustain those states once they had been developed.
- The volume of trade on the Silk Roads was modest and its focus was mainly on luxury goods that were limited to its direct impact on most people. Elite Chines women and their men helped in furnishing the demand for the luxurious fabrics which marked their high status.
- The inhabitants and rulers of the sophisticated and prosperous cities were dependent on long-distance trade; and they were linked to the larger, wealthy, and prestigious civilization of India. As Buddhism progressed and spread across the Silk Roads from India to Central Asia, China, and beyond, it also changed. The original faith had shunned the material world with the emphasis that no material possession is necessary or important. But, Buddhist monasteries in the rich oasis towns of the Silk Roads became wealthy. They received gifts from merchants, artisans, etc. Sculptures and murals in the monasteries portrayed musicians and acrobats as well as women applying makeup and even drinking at parties.
- Diseases like smallpox and measles affected and devastated the Roman Empire and the Han dynasty. And in the Mongol Empire, the dissemination of disease that occurred there facilitated the spread of the Black Death.
General Notes
* Sea-based trade routes connected distant peoples all across the Eastern Hemisphere.
* Sand Road commercial networks made an impact because it helped stimulate the growth and enrichment of the West African civilization and connected it to larger patterns during the third-wave era.
* In the Western Hemisphere, it was a gradual spread of cultural elements.
Commerce and Connection in the Western Hemisphere
The direct connections with the various civilizations and cultures of the Americas were less densely intertwined than in the Afro-Eurasian region. But, the most active and dense networks of communication and exchange in the Americas laid between the regions of Mesoamerica and the Andes. Both the Maya cities in the Yucatan area of Mexico and Guatemala and the huge city-state of Teotihuacan maintained commercial relationships with each other and throughout the region. The Maya conducted a seaborne commerce along with this. Most of this trade was in luxury goods and it was important that they upheld the position and privileges of royal and noble families. Cotton clothing, jewels, and feathers attracted many of the elite groups.
The Economic relationships among the third-wave civilizations were more balanced and multicentered than those of the modern era. Even though tremendous inequalities occurred within certain regions and societies, interactions between major civilizations operated on a more equal stance than in the globalized world of the past several centuries.
Monday, October 24, 2016
Friday, October 7, 2016
Ch.6 Commonalities and Variations - Africa & the Americas 500 B.C.E. 1200 C.E.
Apart from the the civilizations of Eurasia - the Greeks, Romans, Persians, the Chinese, and the Indians of South Asia, there were also the Mesoamerican Maya and the Andean Tiwanaku who thrived along with several other civilizations in sub-Saharan Africa. It also included the Meroe, Axum, and the Niger River valley.
Starting in Africa, the movement of mankind encompassed Eurasia, Australia, the Americas, and Pacific Oceania. Gathering and hunting remained the basis for sustaining life and societies in different communities formed by these people. On the super-continents of Eurasia, Africa, and the Americas, the revolutionary transformation of human life generated particularly in rich agricultural environments. During the second-wave era, Eurasia was home to more than 80% of the world's people with Africa at around 11%, and the Americas between 5-7%. The Americas had no pastoral societies since they had no presence of most animals. Africa also lacked in having animals but because of their close proximity to Eurasia, there was availability in them after the animals had been domesticated. Africa often interacted with Eurasia because it was adjacent to Eurasia while separating the Americas from both Africa and Eurasia.
Africa's Civilizations
Africa was the most tropical of the world's three super-continents. Constant warm temperatures resulted in decomposition of humus which affected poorer and less fertile soils and less productive agriculture than in Eurasia. Africa's climate also caused health problems with disease-carrying insects and parasites.
Mesoamerica's Civilizations
Mesoamerica: "extraordinary diversity compressed into a relatively small space."
Mesoamerica's environment consisted of lowland rain forests to cold and windy highland plateaus with numerous mountains and valleys. These conditions contributed to the substantial linguistic and ethnic diversity along with chiefdoms and states. It was a region bound together by elements of a common culture despite its diversity. Its peoples shared an intensive agricultural technology devoted to raising maize, beans, chili peppers, and squash. They practiced religions that featured a pantheon of male and female deities, understood a cosmic cycle of creation and destruction, and constructed monumental ceremonial centers. Also, they practiced human sacrifice. Their ritual calendar included 260 days and they communicated frequently with themselves. They learned hieroglyphic writing and were influenced by the Olmec culture who had similar traits and ways of doing certain things in their own civilization.
Andes's Civilizations
The landscape of the Andes had bleak deserts, dozens of rivers, and mountains. Deserts supported human habitation because they were cut by dozens of rivers which flowed down through the mountains opening up the possibility of irrigation and cultivation. The presence of the Pacific Ocean offered the Andes an abundant amount of seabirds and fish. The Andes was a towering mountain chain with highland valleys and ecological niches. The Andean societies looked for access to resources through these environments in colonization, conquest, or trade.
The Incas were the most well-known civilizations to take place in this environment. They encompassed practically the entire region in the 15th century. But, the coastal region of central Peru (Norte Chico) had been one of the world's First Civilizations. Between 1000 B.C,E, to 1000 C.E., a number of Andean civilizations arose and eventually died out because they never truly developed as civilizations. They did not develop writing so historians who look into their lives have to depend on archaeology in order to come to some sort of understanding regarding these civilizations.
Bantu Africa
Although civilizations are what world historians focus most and put effort in to break down, understand, and come to conclusions about, there were also human communities that evolved alongside civilizations. Two regions in Africa and North America developed in this way. In Africa, Bantu-speaking peoples moved into the subcontinent in the vast region of Africa south of the equator. The Bantu expansion was a slow movement of peoples. It generated a number of cross-cultural encounters. Bantu-speaking farmers had a numerical advantage because agriculture pushed them to a more productive economy. Gathering and hunting at large were displaced, absorbed, or eliminated in most parts of Africa.
North America
In the Mesoamerican and Andean regions, cities, states, and dense populations created civilizations similar to those of Afro-Eurasia. In other places, gathering and hunting peoples carried most of ancient human adaptions to the environment. In the eastern woodlands of the United States, Central America, the Amazon basin, and the Caribbean islands were populated by peoples who could be considered as "semi-sedentary" - less intensive and productive agricultural societies. These people made their own histories changing and developing their unique environments.
The growth, prosperity, and general development of these civilizations are very much a significant part of our world's history. Historians take so much time and effort to find and discover evidence from these civilizations to better understand how the people lived as individuals and as communities.
Starting in Africa, the movement of mankind encompassed Eurasia, Australia, the Americas, and Pacific Oceania. Gathering and hunting remained the basis for sustaining life and societies in different communities formed by these people. On the super-continents of Eurasia, Africa, and the Americas, the revolutionary transformation of human life generated particularly in rich agricultural environments. During the second-wave era, Eurasia was home to more than 80% of the world's people with Africa at around 11%, and the Americas between 5-7%. The Americas had no pastoral societies since they had no presence of most animals. Africa also lacked in having animals but because of their close proximity to Eurasia, there was availability in them after the animals had been domesticated. Africa often interacted with Eurasia because it was adjacent to Eurasia while separating the Americas from both Africa and Eurasia.
Africa's Civilizations
Africa was the most tropical of the world's three super-continents. Constant warm temperatures resulted in decomposition of humus which affected poorer and less fertile soils and less productive agriculture than in Eurasia. Africa's climate also caused health problems with disease-carrying insects and parasites.
Mesoamerica's Civilizations
Mesoamerica: "extraordinary diversity compressed into a relatively small space."
Mesoamerica's environment consisted of lowland rain forests to cold and windy highland plateaus with numerous mountains and valleys. These conditions contributed to the substantial linguistic and ethnic diversity along with chiefdoms and states. It was a region bound together by elements of a common culture despite its diversity. Its peoples shared an intensive agricultural technology devoted to raising maize, beans, chili peppers, and squash. They practiced religions that featured a pantheon of male and female deities, understood a cosmic cycle of creation and destruction, and constructed monumental ceremonial centers. Also, they practiced human sacrifice. Their ritual calendar included 260 days and they communicated frequently with themselves. They learned hieroglyphic writing and were influenced by the Olmec culture who had similar traits and ways of doing certain things in their own civilization.
Andes's Civilizations
The landscape of the Andes had bleak deserts, dozens of rivers, and mountains. Deserts supported human habitation because they were cut by dozens of rivers which flowed down through the mountains opening up the possibility of irrigation and cultivation. The presence of the Pacific Ocean offered the Andes an abundant amount of seabirds and fish. The Andes was a towering mountain chain with highland valleys and ecological niches. The Andean societies looked for access to resources through these environments in colonization, conquest, or trade.
The Incas were the most well-known civilizations to take place in this environment. They encompassed practically the entire region in the 15th century. But, the coastal region of central Peru (Norte Chico) had been one of the world's First Civilizations. Between 1000 B.C,E, to 1000 C.E., a number of Andean civilizations arose and eventually died out because they never truly developed as civilizations. They did not develop writing so historians who look into their lives have to depend on archaeology in order to come to some sort of understanding regarding these civilizations.
Bantu Africa
Although civilizations are what world historians focus most and put effort in to break down, understand, and come to conclusions about, there were also human communities that evolved alongside civilizations. Two regions in Africa and North America developed in this way. In Africa, Bantu-speaking peoples moved into the subcontinent in the vast region of Africa south of the equator. The Bantu expansion was a slow movement of peoples. It generated a number of cross-cultural encounters. Bantu-speaking farmers had a numerical advantage because agriculture pushed them to a more productive economy. Gathering and hunting at large were displaced, absorbed, or eliminated in most parts of Africa.
North America
In the Mesoamerican and Andean regions, cities, states, and dense populations created civilizations similar to those of Afro-Eurasia. In other places, gathering and hunting peoples carried most of ancient human adaptions to the environment. In the eastern woodlands of the United States, Central America, the Amazon basin, and the Caribbean islands were populated by peoples who could be considered as "semi-sedentary" - less intensive and productive agricultural societies. These people made their own histories changing and developing their unique environments.
The growth, prosperity, and general development of these civilizations are very much a significant part of our world's history. Historians take so much time and effort to find and discover evidence from these civilizations to better understand how the people lived as individuals and as communities.
Tuesday, October 4, 2016
Ch. 5 Society and Inequality in Eurasia/North Africa
China
Chinese society was unique because it was shaped by the actions of the state. It was significant in the political power and social prestige of Chinese state officials - all males. Acting in the name of the emperor, bureaucrats represented the cultural and social elite of Chinese civilization for 2,000 years.
Confucius advocated selecting officials such as administrators based on merit and personal mortality rather than birth or well.
When the Han dynasty was established and its authority arose around 200 B.C.E., its rulers had each province send men of promise to the capital where they were examined and chosen for official positions based on their performances.
Emperor Wu Di - in 124 B.C.E., established an imperial academy where potential officials could be trained as scholars and learned about history, literature, art, and math with emphasis on Confucian teachings. It enrolled around 30,000 students by the end of the Han dynasty. This favored families who were wealthy enough to provide the years of education required. The ones who made it into the bureaucracy entered the realm of high privilege and great prestige.
Senior officials: moved around in carriages, had robes, ribbons, seals, and headdresses appropriate for their rank.
Lower officials: distinguished by speech, cultural sophistication, urban manners, and political authority.
Most officials came from wealthy families meaning they had land. By the 1st century B.C.E., growing populations, taxation, and debt generated many more landowners as impoverished peasants were forced to sell their lands to more prosperous neighbors.
Throughout the course of China's civilization, peasants accumulated the vast majority of the population. Nature, the state, and landlords combined made the peasants' lives more vulnerable. Peasants were oppressed in China and exploited; but they were also honored and celebrated in the official ideology of the state.
India
Caste system: "race" or "purity of blood"
-Evolved from a racially defined encounter between light-skinned Aryan invaders and the darker-hued native peoples.
-the top: Brahmins: priests whose rituals and sacrifices alone could ensure the proper functioning of the world.
-Kshatriya: warriors and rulers charged with protecting and governing society.
-Vaisya: commoners who cultivated the land. the first three classes came to be regarded as pure Aryans and were called the "twice-born."
-The Untouchables
Far below...
-Sudras: native peoples incorporated into the margins of Aryan society in subordinate positions.
-Jatis: occupationally-based groups.
India's caste system showed the exploitation of the poor by the wealthy and powerful.
Rome
Slavery: ownership by a master, possibility of being sold, working without pay, and status of "outsider" at the bottom of the social hierarchy.
In the Greco-Roman world, society was based on slavery.
Aristotle developed the notion that some people were "slaves by nature."
-By the time of Christ, the Italian heartland of the Roman Empire had 2-3 million slaves - 33-40% o the population.
-The vast majority of slaves had been prisoners who were captured in many wars that accompanied the creation of the empire. Thousands of people were enslaved with pirates also capturing them to sell them to Roman slave traders on the island of Delos. Some slaves also came from slave reproduction where slave mothers were regarded as slaves themselves.
*Romans regarded their slaves as "barbarians" - lazy, unreliable, immoral, prone to thieving, etc. They often worked chained together and worked as skilled artisans, teachers, doctors, business agents, entertainers, and actors.
*If a slave murdered his master, Roman law demands the lives of all of the victim's slaves. When one Roman official was killed by a slave in 61 C.E., every 1 of his 400 slaves was condemned to death. Brutal owners made their slaves' lives a living hell. Benevolent owners made life tolerable and sometimes granted slaves their freedom or allow them to buy their freedom.
Buddha and Solomon
"What has been will be again... there is nothing new under the sun" attributed to King Solomon and it was a despairing and sad view of changelessness and futility of human life. Buddhist teachings on the other hand, has the concept of impermanence - "everything changes, nothing remains without change."
Patriarchy which has assumptions of male superiority and dominance has not been challenged until the recent centuries and even then, it has continued to shape the lives and and the ways of thinking of the vast majority of humankind.
Chinese society was unique because it was shaped by the actions of the state. It was significant in the political power and social prestige of Chinese state officials - all males. Acting in the name of the emperor, bureaucrats represented the cultural and social elite of Chinese civilization for 2,000 years.
Confucius advocated selecting officials such as administrators based on merit and personal mortality rather than birth or well.
When the Han dynasty was established and its authority arose around 200 B.C.E., its rulers had each province send men of promise to the capital where they were examined and chosen for official positions based on their performances.
Emperor Wu Di - in 124 B.C.E., established an imperial academy where potential officials could be trained as scholars and learned about history, literature, art, and math with emphasis on Confucian teachings. It enrolled around 30,000 students by the end of the Han dynasty. This favored families who were wealthy enough to provide the years of education required. The ones who made it into the bureaucracy entered the realm of high privilege and great prestige.
Senior officials: moved around in carriages, had robes, ribbons, seals, and headdresses appropriate for their rank.
Lower officials: distinguished by speech, cultural sophistication, urban manners, and political authority.
Most officials came from wealthy families meaning they had land. By the 1st century B.C.E., growing populations, taxation, and debt generated many more landowners as impoverished peasants were forced to sell their lands to more prosperous neighbors.
Throughout the course of China's civilization, peasants accumulated the vast majority of the population. Nature, the state, and landlords combined made the peasants' lives more vulnerable. Peasants were oppressed in China and exploited; but they were also honored and celebrated in the official ideology of the state.
India
Caste system: "race" or "purity of blood"
-Evolved from a racially defined encounter between light-skinned Aryan invaders and the darker-hued native peoples.
-the top: Brahmins: priests whose rituals and sacrifices alone could ensure the proper functioning of the world.
-Kshatriya: warriors and rulers charged with protecting and governing society.
-Vaisya: commoners who cultivated the land. the first three classes came to be regarded as pure Aryans and were called the "twice-born."
-The Untouchables
Far below...
-Sudras: native peoples incorporated into the margins of Aryan society in subordinate positions.
-Jatis: occupationally-based groups.
India's caste system showed the exploitation of the poor by the wealthy and powerful.
Rome
Slavery: ownership by a master, possibility of being sold, working without pay, and status of "outsider" at the bottom of the social hierarchy.
In the Greco-Roman world, society was based on slavery.
Aristotle developed the notion that some people were "slaves by nature."
-By the time of Christ, the Italian heartland of the Roman Empire had 2-3 million slaves - 33-40% o the population.
-The vast majority of slaves had been prisoners who were captured in many wars that accompanied the creation of the empire. Thousands of people were enslaved with pirates also capturing them to sell them to Roman slave traders on the island of Delos. Some slaves also came from slave reproduction where slave mothers were regarded as slaves themselves.
*Romans regarded their slaves as "barbarians" - lazy, unreliable, immoral, prone to thieving, etc. They often worked chained together and worked as skilled artisans, teachers, doctors, business agents, entertainers, and actors.
*If a slave murdered his master, Roman law demands the lives of all of the victim's slaves. When one Roman official was killed by a slave in 61 C.E., every 1 of his 400 slaves was condemned to death. Brutal owners made their slaves' lives a living hell. Benevolent owners made life tolerable and sometimes granted slaves their freedom or allow them to buy their freedom.
Buddha and Solomon
"What has been will be again... there is nothing new under the sun" attributed to King Solomon and it was a despairing and sad view of changelessness and futility of human life. Buddhist teachings on the other hand, has the concept of impermanence - "everything changes, nothing remains without change."
Patriarchy which has assumptions of male superiority and dominance has not been challenged until the recent centuries and even then, it has continued to shape the lives and and the ways of thinking of the vast majority of humankind.
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