Fill in what you know and then do research to add info re: othe/r topics. We want this filled out a week or two before the AP exam. But this should be on-going. After each unit in the class this year is completed, students should be adding to their e-portfolio notes here. In short, you are creating your own study guide over the course of the year. It will be your guide to the AP exam in May. It is not something that can be done “last minute,” however. Take the initiative!



Period 1:

Technological and Environmental

Transformations, to c. 600 B.C.E.

Key Concept 1.1. Big Geography and the Peopling of

the Earth

(Student adds a few sentences under this heading to explain; key ideas such as the Out-of Africa theory, in this case)

* * *

Key Concept 1.2. The Neolithic Revolution and Early

Agricultural Societies

Period 1:

Technological and Environmental

Transformations, to c. 600 B.C.E.

Key Concept 1.1. Big Geography and the Peopling of

the Earth

* * *

Key Concept 1.2. The Neolithic Revolution and Early

Agricultural Societies

Required examples of improvements in agricultural production, trade,

and transportation:

• Pottery- improvements made after surplus agriculture was active throughout towns. Pottery also helped to create the surplus agriculture because it could store water and foods.

• Plows- made improvements to agriculture and surplus agriculture because of the ease to use and create a big field. If the climate and weather habits (rain, flooding, droughts) were predictable, a civilization could flourish.

• Woven textiles- a lot of fabrics such as cotton came in much abundance in India which lead to a high supply and demand. Britain needed these woven textiles greatly which created major trade routes to and from India. During the Fifteenth century, cloths and fabrics had the largest industry. Used for clothing and baskets.

• Metallurgy- able to study the chemical makeup of metal through science in order to better use the types of metals to its fullest. With knowledge of the metal, people were then able to make use of the metals to suit their needs

• Wheels and wheeled vehicles- created all forms of transportation, MAJOR importance, cut down on manual labor and made it so that animals (such as ox and cavalry) could be the brute force for transportation of goods and people.

Key Concept 1.3. The Development and Interactions of

Early Agricultural, Pastoral, and Urban Societies

Students should be able to identify the location of all of the following

required examples of core and foundational civilizations:

• Mesopotamia in the Tigris and Euphrates River Valleys- first ever civilization was created there and was efficient in surplus agriculture. FIRST law code created in order to end the fighting over resources and other things… called Hammurabi’s Code.

• Egypt in the Nile River Valley- gatherings of people around the nile river because it was VERY fertile land. Very Religious groups thought that the gods (their main god being the sun god) were happy with them and in return gave them predictable floods to increase productivity.

• Mohenjo-Daro and Harappa in the Indus River Valley- Mohenjo- Daro: largest ancient civilization in the Indus River Valley; abandoned in the early 19th Century; located in Pakistan Harappa : archaealogical sight in Northeast Pakistan; was a very large settling in its time; around 2600 BC

• Shang in the Yellow River or Huang He Valley- In China a large civilization; spoke chinese; Shang Dynasty was located around the Yellow River which was a very fertile piece of land that was easy to grow and prosper from;

• Olmecs in Mesoamerica- 1200-400 BC, great agurcultural benefits to the rainy and green area, lots of natural growth and flooding.

• Chavín in Andean South America- compared to the olmecs, considered a culture/civilization/region, ‘Peru’s oldest civilization’, ceramic/architecture/sculpture are their strong suits, major trade area, textiles are made and traded,

New religious beliefs developed in this period continued to have strong

influences in later periods.

Required examples of new religious beliefs:

• The Vedic religion- vedic hinduism (Vedism) , in India aroudn 1500 BCE, from the ancient religious script called the Vedas (writen in the 15-5 century BCE), Vedas are attached to a group of writing called the Brahamans, Upanishads and Aranyakas are further explanations and writings to clarify the religion, polytheistic (all male gods), Brahmans = priests, traditional to sacrifice to the gods

• Hebrew monotheism- Ancient Hebrews had a monotheistic belief of having one god; there is belief that Moses created the idea of only having one god to cherish and pray to (this is now know as monotheism)

• Zoroastrianism- oldest religion in the world, founded in Persia(iran) by Zarathushtr, first monotheistic faith, fewer than 200,000 followers, created: heaven and hell, the virgin birth and resurrection,Required examples of trade expansion from local to regional

• Between Egypt and Nubia- egypt conquered nubia, mainly art and pottery forms were traded for ease in storage as well as gold, ivory, ebony, ostrich feathers, doam (palm fruits), and exotic products, and animals like giraffes, Olive oil was given to nubia from egypt, exotic animals and such were given to the egyptians.

• Between Mesopotamia and the Indus Valley- Mesopotamia: was a region which did not have many natural resources. Therefore, the people who lived there needed to trade with neighbouring countries in order to acquire the resources they needed to live. Grain, oils and textiles were taken from Babylonia to foreign cities and exchanged for timber, wine, precious metals and stones. In addition, merchants from other countries travelled to Babylonia to exchange their goods.Merchants used several different methods for transporting their goods depending on what they were transporting. For example, grain was quite bulky and was best transported on a boat, whereas precious stones were likely to be small, so they could be transported on foot or by donkey. Indus Valley: The Indus cities were connected with rural agricultural communities and distant resource and mining areas through strong trade systems. Cotton, lumber, grain, livestock and other food stuffs were probably the major commodities of this internal trade. A highly standardized system of weights was used to control trade and also probably for collecting taxes

misc:

• Compound bows- modern type of bow and arrow that is more compacted to shoot farther and more efficiently; also this bow and arrow does not become weathered by the elements

• Iron weapons- easy to mass produce and were very strong, iron also lead to a great deal of polution and enviromental problems.

• Chariots- usually saved for wealthy / noble / important people for transportation; pulled by horses and the chariots were usually made of wood or gold and various other materials dependant on the wealth of the rider; these were seen rampantly in Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece

• Horseback riding- improved warfare and the widespread of ideas and trade. The Mongol Empire (lead by Ganges Kahn) revolutionized warfare through cavalry which lead to their huge empire.

• Ziggurats- temples with very high platforms on which you step to go into the rooms, Mesopotamian equivalent to the Egyptian pyramids, always built by kings,

• Pyramids- 138 pyramids were found since 2008, took up to 100,000 people to make the pyramids. The Egyptians built the pyramids to resemble the primordial mound which is what they believe created the earth. They were designed to enclose and protect the body of dead royalty so that they have the chance to have a good afterlife and be resurrected. The pharoahs were put in the pyramids with their families and their most prized posetions such as gold and furniture for them to have in their afterlife.

• Temples- a worship place for many different religions that were a place for prayer and the center of a specific religious community

• Defensive walls- EXAMPLE: Great Wall of China; used to keep people/ enemies out and sometimes to keep people in without prisoners or other people running away; used to store weapons for massive attacks

• Streets and roads- used to faster transport trade goods and make trade networks more efficient over all; also allowed for better transportation within civilizations

• Sewage and water

systems- created an under ground way to disperse and get rid of sewage which allowed for a cleaner and healthier and less disease rampant civilization and enviroment

• Sculpture- usually depicted religious beings and figures which was to enhance the religious thoughts in the area and to attempt to unify the civilization religiously

• Painting- usually religious pictures and paintings to enhance stories and thoughts on religions

• Wall decorations- usually depicting Gods and things that are divine; progressed into things that liked and things that dont necessarily mean as much; in ancient times pictures of animals and things vital to life were drawn; in ancient Egypt: pharoahs and rich nobles were shown because of their importance to the society

• Elaborate weaving- weaving was also used to depict things that were of importance in society (see above); thick cotton or wool was used (traded from india)

• Cuneiform- earliest form of written expression found; found in Sumer around 30 century BC; pictographs (pictures of object which are symbolized by the “word”); written on clay tablets; used for around 35 centuries; replaced by the alphabet writing from the Roman Empire

• Hieroglyphs- Egyptian way of writing through pictures; passed through the ages; usually written on walls though also found on scriptures; writing and numbering for the ancient Egyptians

• Pictographs- a way of reference and reading which draws objects and has a symbol for everything; the symbol is a drawing of an object instead of letters to name it

• Alphabets- standard set of letters which represents phonemes in various speaking languages;

• Quipu- number system; used by the Incas; used in the society to keep track of the numerical data (EX: population, troops, supplies ect. )

• The “Epic of Gilgamesh”- epic poem from Mesopotamia; earliest surviving works of literature; only a few pieces survive; five independant poems from Sumer about Gilgamesh (the King of Uruk)

• Rig Veda- Indian collection of Vedic Sanskrit Hymns; among the four sacred texts called the ‘Vedas’; oldest texts in any Indo-European texts; contains mythological and poetical account of the birth of earth as well as ancient prayers for life and prosperity

• Book of the Dead- egyptian funerary text; magic spells used to assist the dead person to journeying to afterlife; no single book; a compilation of a bunch of separate spells and books of spells

Period 2:

Organization and Reorganization of Human

Societies, c. 600 B.C.E. to c. 600 C.E.

Key Concept 2.1. The Development and Codification of

Religious and Cultural Traditions

Key Concept 2.2. The Development of States and Empires

Required examples of key states and empires (Student should know the

location and names):

• Southwest Asia: Persian Empires- also known as the achaemendid empire; ruled by a series of monarchs; hierarchy;

• East Asia: Qin and Han Empire- The Qin Dynasty was the first and then came the Han Empire. The Qin Empire calmed China down by having an autocratic rule. The Han Empire had heavy taxes and threatened the northern areas and having forced labor. The Han Empire used the Royal Blood Line in their government unlike the Qin Dynasty that used non-hereditary leaders.

• South Asia: Maurya and Gupta Empires- Maurya Empire: Iron Age historical power; from the Indian Sub Continent; mainly practice Hinduism and Buddhism; the government was an absolute monarchy; had a common economic system which enhanced the unity … they had a unified currency which increased agricultural proudctivity – Gupta Empire: ancient Indian Empire; covered most of the Indian Sub Continent; had peace and prosperity which allowed for the advanced education and exploration of the arts and science; called the Golden Age of India; many inventions in nearly all fields; main religions: Hinduism and Buddhism; and the main language was Sanskrit; Indian Epics and literature to be studied and a source of tradition; Fa Xian from China was one of the main founders and leaders of this Empire; Skandagupta was the strongest and most prosperous leader of the Gupta empire and after his death, the empire slowly declined; very large army and gained a lot of land and power through strong force; was the place/ time of large inventions and discoveries such as the concept of “zero”

• Mediterranean region: Phoenicia and its colonies, Greek city-states

and colonies, and Hellenistic and Roman Empires- Phoenicia and its colonies: ancient civilization in Canaan in the west part of the Fertile Crescent; maritime trading place; Canaanite Religion; had a government of city states; first people at a state level to be using an alphabet; were some of the greatest traders of their time and gained large amount of $$$ in their trade – Greek City States: strived in the Archaic period from the 8th to the 6th centuries; and also included Classical Greece; the Greek culture had a big influence on the Roman Empire; since the Greek Population was very large, they split up into colonies and city states each of which had their own semi-government which was all ruled by the main leader and government of the whole empire; the city states were independent but limited in their freedom and became oligarchies; there were many layers of social classes and the richer you were, the more education you got; people who were very rich were given slaves and the slaves were property of the city states – Hellenistic Empire: represents the greek influence over the world from 323 – 146 BC; the spread of Hellenistic Beliefs started through Alexander the Great; Greek culture, language, religion and everything else greek was spread throughout this new world; spread all over the middle east , near east and south west asia; a hybrid Greek-Asian Culture; called a new wave of Greek Colonization; the amount of Greek influence of Hellenistic societies has been disputed though the influence can be largely seen in the culture, language, art, science and religion – Roman Empire : post- republic period of Ancient Rome; had an autocratic form of government; held lots of land around the Mediteranean and throughout Europe; the roman empire was weakened due to many civil wars; Julius Caesar was a famous figure who marked the timing and start of this empire; Trajan the Emporer brough the most prosperity to this Empire; religions included Roman Paganism and Christianity; Latin and Greek were the main lanuages;

• Mesoamerica: Teotihuacan, Maya city-states- Teotihuacan: archaealogcal sight in Mexico; largest pyramidal structures in the pre- colombian americas; established around 100 BC until 250 BC; influenced MesoAmerica with their pottery style (thin pottery); may have influenced the Aztecs; became the largest/most populated city center in the new world; not sure who built this but some possibilites (such as the Nahua, Otomi or Totonac); the origins and founders of this place are debated and not clear though they have narrowed it down; evidence of migration and future influence on the Zapotec, Mixtec and Mayan people – Maya City- States: reached the highest state of development in the Classical Era; established in the Pre- Classical period; shares many features with other Mesoamerican civilizations because of the large scale interactions between them and the cultural diffusion; Mayan people never died out or migrated the just scattered and their dialect can still be heard today; creation of the Mayan Calendar ( based around the Mesoamerican long count calendar); classified with sedentary communities and the introduction of pottery and fired clay;

Key Concept 2.3. Emergence of Transregional

Networks of Communication and Exchange

Required examples of trade routes:

• Eurasian Silk Roads- trade route that went throughout Africa and Asia; extended 4000 miles; got its name from the Chinese luxury of silk that traveled through the trade network; helped to develop the great civilizations (China, India, Arabia, Ancient Rome ect. )

• Trans-Saharan caravan routes- a trade route through Africa and all the way to Europe; peaked in the eight century to the sixteenth century; introduction of the camel and travel by this animal (made it easy to travel for many days in a row through the desert because of their ability to go for days without water); very basic things were traded because of the lack of technology.

•Indian Ocean sea lanes- key factor for East- West trade; long distance trade by basic ships; spices, gold, emeralds and diamonds were the main things traded from India (spices were in high demand due to the plain food that everyone else had); Chinese merchants traded with Egypt; when Muslims cut off the silk road it was replaced with the slave convoys;

• Mediterranean sea lanes- trade through Europe; the big civilizations were the major trade routes; connected to the Atlantic Ocean which allowed for a broader scale of trade to the Americas and beyond; the main import from all over the world was spices

Required examples of transformed religious and cultural traditions:

• Christianity- 1st century: began as a jewish sect; originated in the Middle East, spread everywhere and then to the Roman Empire where it exploded; “Age of Discovery” the “new world” found it and the religion moved to the Americas and Europe; kept expanding over the years; many different interperatations of the main text (Bible) which lead to a minor split and many different sub groups of Christianity;

• Hinduism- one of the indigenous belief systems in Indian Subcontinent; wide variety of laws and traditions that should be upheld daily; divers traditions without one specific founder; founding dates back to India in the Neolithic age; originates from the Vedic Period; Sanskrit Epics is the main body of text used for the belief (a compilation of texts); after the Gupta period the Sanskrit culture declined

• Buddhism- philosophy/ religion originated in the Indian Subcontinent; many different rules/ traditions/ beliefs based on the core beliefs and teachings from Siddhartha Guatama (Buddha); Buddha lived and taught in the Indian Subcontinent from the fourth to sixth centuries; Two major branches: Theravada and Mahayana; the main idea is to separate yourself and be very spiritual and be totally disconnected from everything and to the path to Nirvana

misc:

• the influence of

Daoism on Medical theories and

practices – Daoism: philosophy or religious tradition that emphasizes harmony; very intune with nature and therefore used nature as a way to heal themselves; though they also believed/ practiced standard and scientific medicinal ways they also incorporated witch craft and sorcery into their beliefs; in order to elongate their lives they would eat less food and ingest more medicine; they used raw materials for medicine such as plants, metals and minerals; and the medicine that they used has had a lot of influence of common day chemistry

• Poetry- in the east, Li Bais poetry was a big influence on the Chinese culture and became known as Ri Ku in Japan; ideas in Li Bais poetry also spread and shaped some Western ideas; mainly expressed daily life as well as nature and religion

• Metallurgy- known as the distinguished craft and proffesion of working with metal; the first metallurgy evidence came about around the fifth and 6th millenium BC; found throughout Portugal and Spain; used to create the cast iron and used for agricultural advances

• Architecture- mainly reflected religion ( EX. pyramids of Giza); the biggest and most monumental buildings were usually religous centers such as the Roman Catholic church in central Europe

• ancestor veneration ,Africa- formed the basic ideas/ core values of many religions; prayers and things dedicated to the deceased were common;

• The Mediterranean

region- meaning the land that surrounds the mediterranean sea (parts of southern europe, northern africa and a few sections of the middle east); many different empires and great civilizations were cummulated around this area (Mesopotamia, Roman Empire, Greek, Egyptian)

• East Asia- mainly controlled by CHina, Japan and N/S Korea

• The Andean areas- areas surrounding the Andes Mountains (longest continental mt range in the world); ran along the coast of South America;

• Greek plays- had a high literacy rate; very large and developed culture; many different types of plays (comedies, epics, tradgedies); held in huge outdoor theaters called amphitheaters;

• Indian epics- usually depicted through the Sanskrit Epics; common topic: religion and daily culture/ life; usually Jain religious literature and Virashava literature

• India- had many regional kingdoms and cultural diversity; called the Indian Medieval Age; had no defined leader and was a little mismatched though it did go through a sort of Industrial Revolution

• Greece- did not exist and a combined state; the geography broke greece up into many different groups which lead to a diffrence in leadership and beliefs; The delian league was formed between the strongest of these groups (Athens and Sparta who then prospered greatly after the persian war); All sections of greece were wuickly controlled and conquered by the Roman empire after the Pelopennisian war

• The Roman Empire- was one of the most peaceful and powerful massive empires to rule this area; (pax romanus) allowed for a unified front and a unified area for safety in trade and prosperity for all people under the roman’s rule. 476 = fall of the roman empire

• Achaemenid- also known as the first Persian empire; was founded by Cyrus the great; had large territory and a strong military; atheins became in contact with the achaemenids and were even emplowed by perian kings; held large trading centers

• Parthian- region of northern iran; controlled by the Parthian Empire; Parthian Empire became the biggest Iranian power and cultural observer in ancient persia

• Sassanid- from 224- 651; sassanid empire wanted to get rid of any and all greek influence and obtain/ strengthen Iranian traditions; priests were very important heads/ leaders; hostilities b/w the Sassanid and Roman empire were rampant

• administrative institutions, China- Civil Service Teachings- test on confuscian teachings given to people who wanted to be Chinese officials in government; the test was open to anyone but mainly distributed to education people who were provided with preparation for the tests

• Persia- a series of empires that made up the total Persian Empire; (much like Sassanid and Archaemenid Empire)

• Rome- capitol of roman empire as well as the roman republic; considered the birthplace of western ideas; highly influencial place and historically rich place which held many place of power and trade cities throughout the years

• South Asia- inhabited by many large empires though none were formed from there/ orininated from; European traders took hold of this land; other large empires to inhabit this land are many of the Chinese empires

• Persepolis- ceremonial center for the Archaemenid Empire; 515 BC are the earliest specimines; 330 BC: Alexander the Great destroyed this center of prosperity

• Chang’an- also known as Xi’an = origin of east -west trade (Silk Road) as well as the capitol of over ten Chinese dynasties

• Pataliputra- Pataliputra was a city in ancient India, originally built by in 490 BC as a small fort near the River Ganges, and later became the capital of the kingdom of Magadha. The city prospered under the Mauryas; the city also became a flourishing Buddhist centre (Ashoka’s influence) with important monasteries. It remained the capital of the Gupta dynasty (3rd–6th centuries CE) and the Pala Dynasty (8th-12th centuries CE).

• Athens- capital of Greece; one of the largest/ strongest city states in all of the Grecian Empire; was a large trading center and exported massive amounts of olive oil

• Carthage- ancient city locateed in current day Tunisia; was founded by the Phoenicans; was destroyed/ rebuilt many ties due to wars and invasians

• Alexandria- 331: founded by Alexander the Great; became a big trading center and prosperous place for cultural collaboration

• Constantinople- was the capitol of the Eastern Roman Empire ; 330 AD: founded by the Byzantines; connected the East and West trade ports; prosperous literary knowlege and essential goods

• Teotihuacan- archaeological site in Mexico, containing some of the largest pyramidal structures built in the Americas pre-Columbus. It is also known for its large architecture, colorful murals, distinctive art, and a pottery style that spread through Mesoamerica. Thought to be built around 100 BC, many things are unclear about the site: was it the center of a state empire? No historian is sure. However, evidence of Teotihuacano presence can be seen at numerous sites in throughout Mesoamerica, and the Aztecs may have been influenced by this city; hypothesized as a multiethnic state

• Corvée- mainly unpaid but expense- needed form of labor; earliest form of taxing and was created/ decided on due to a person social class

• Slavery- in this time period people who were enslaved were usually people who had lost a battle and been enslaved by the people who conquered their land; not usually a racial problem; they were used mainly for tedious agricultural work like farming; the plantation system (like in the Caribbean and the British colonies of North America) allowed for cheap and abundant labor; in some places there was little need for slaves due to their lack of difficult agriculture such a tobacco;

• Rents and tributes- Tributes: excessive taxes placed on people by their government Rents: temporary payment in exchange for something (such as shelter or usage of an item)

• Peasant communities- a community of a lower class/ people with a smaller income with less prosperity; usually consisting of people who maintain menial jobs

• Family and household

production- Family and household production in peasant societies was the major economic unit, and so the production of any given peasant unit was dependent on what any given household or family can produce. Within that system, there is less of an emphasis on education so that children can be workers within the family.

•Deforestation- used to build up cities and villages for sturdier homes; results in the addition of polution due to the machines; attributes to the death of animals and future extinction;trees are also cut down to create more farming land because the land in usually very fertile; the trees that are cut down can also be used for fuel which leads to more population

• Desertification- the man made effect on desert land

• Soil erosion- as people moved and trade centers flourished, roads were being eroded due to the consant pressure and poeple traveling on them

• Silted rivers- leads to good crop production because the silt in the river provides for extra nutrients in the crops; lead to a more agriculturally based trade and a more prosperous trade

• Between Han China

and the Xiongnu- battle of baideng; lots of conflict between the two; Xiongnu was afraid of invasion from the Han china; 200BC: Han China invaded; they DID have some peaceful interactions : Motun, the ruler, wanted a marriage with a Han emporer’s mother;

• Between the Gupta and

the White Huns- Huns temporarily overthrew the Gupta and the HIndu Coalition eventually drove them out from India;

• Between the Romans

and their northern and

eastern neighbors.- Interaction between the Romans and their northern and eastern neighbors was beneficial to all the parties involved, as trade flourished between them;

• Yokes- a wooden agricultural tool used to tie two animals to a cart or plow to pull; used for transportation of heavy loads

• Saddles- allowed for horse back riders more stability and comfort; usually created for horses but can also be custom made for elephants and camels;

• Stirrups- stemmed from the Mongolian Empire where horses were used extensively to create a larger and stronger army; the stirrups are used for stability and leverage while riding a horse.

• Lateen sail- a triangular fore-and-aft sail used especially in the Mediterranean; helped ships stir in the right direction & keep their travels more safe for trade & exploration.

• Dhow ships- rigged ship with two or more sails; used in the Indian Ocean and Red Sea

• The qanat system- used in iran; irigation system throughout the desert; constructions of wells/ shafts use to transport/ store water; allowed for large scale traveling without seepage or evaporation

• The effects of disease on

the Roman Empire- the atonine plague and small pox brought the roman empire’s militia back to the home base due to their illness’; with the constant travel of the military, the soldiers picked up many diseases from different places; with the soldiers constantly being in a close proximity to illness’, they were weakened and in the end defeated due to their weak health

• The effects of disease on

Chinese empires- the black death spread through China through the Silk Road trade systems; many people died throughout the world

Period 3:

Regional and Transregional Interactions,

c. 600 C.E. to c. 1450

Key Concept 3.1. Expansion and Intensification of

Communication and Exchange Networks

Required examples of existing trade routes:

• The Silk Roads- allowed for the spread of Buddhism and Christianity into China; created an interest to explore the waters which lead to a greater amount of trade; silks and prcelain were traded from Chin; cloth, glass, horses and ivory were also some of the many items traded along this route;

• The Mediterranean Sea- Muslim raiders and Black Sea were both places that were around the Mediterranean Sea and places that people did not want to go; this was a basic trade route used all over the world; used mainly by the Europeans so that they could import all of their necessities

• The Trans-Saharan- helped for the rise of African kingdoms and empires in West Africa; spread Islam through West Africa; many different cloths and linens were traded; gld, ivory,slaves and spices were the main things that were traded

• The Indian Ocean basins- brought $$ to East Africa due to the trade developments into the “interior of the continent”; allowed for the african trading cities such as Sofala and Kilwa to survie and expand; spread Swahili (mix of Arabic and Bantu languages); brought Islam to costal Bantu-speakers

Key Concept 3.2. Continuity and Innovation of State

Forms and Their Interactions

Required examples of empires:

• China- the Tang Dynasty : 1. chinese empire spread towards central asia and southeast asia 2. considered the golden age of china in the arts and sciences 3. the civil service became the chief administrative arm of the govt and reached down to the local level 4. examination of Confucian classics- philosophy and law; the whole empire depended on a single set of ethical principles = UNIFORMITY . . . the scholar- gentry. the Song Dynasty (960-1279): weak military; increased agricultural farming of rice; this created an increase in population and a stronger population due to the increase in food; created a currency based government and economy; iron manufacturing which lead to industrialization and the development of TRADE SHIPS; the compass*; landscape painting was the dominant art form (impressionist).

• The Byzantine Empire-also known as the Eastern Roman Empire in the Middle Ages; this empire existed for more than one thousand years; conquered many areas (the entire Mediterranean area and most of the costal regions in southwestern Europe and North Africa

• The Caliphates- the 1st system in government establish in/for Islam; represented the leaders of the Muslim community; split between the Sunni and Shiite communities (different beliefs on who should be the caliph/leader); Sunni: believe that anyone who is a fit leader with good common sense should lead and it doesnt matter his heritage Shiite: believe that the caliph/leader has to be one of muhammads descdendants and it really doesnt matter what their leading skills are

• The Mongols- existed in the 13th and 14th century; largest continuous land empire in all of history; stretched from Eastern Europe to the Sea of Japan; 6,000 miles covered and a population 100 million; emerged after the Mongols and Turkic tribes unified; lead by Ganghes Kahn; held many religions such as Christianity, Buddhism, Islam and many more

Required examples of technological and cultural transfers:

• Between Tang China and the Abbasids-Tang Dynasty was centered in Chang’an, a city established by the Han dynasty on the ruins of Emperor Qin Shi Huang’s capital of Xian and developed by Sui emperor Wen Tu. Under the Tangs, Chang’an became a thriving metropolis and center of international trade filled with merchants, foreign traders, missionaries from numerous religions, acrobats, artists and entertainers. It was the largest city in Asia, perhaps the world, with a population of around two million people at a time when no city in Europe had a population of more than a few hundred thousand. The city was linked to the rest of China through a network of canals and toll roads which brought more riches and taxes into Chang’an

• Across the Mongol empires- Mongols had a strong history of supporting merchants and trade. Genghis Khan had encouraged foreign merchants early in his career, even before uniting the Mongols. Merchants provided him with information about neighboring cultures, served as diplomats and official traders for the Mongols, and were essential for many needed goods, since the Mongols produced little of their own. Mongols sometimes provided capital for merchants, and sent them far afield, in an ortoq (merchant partner) arrangement. As the Empire grew, any merchants or ambassadors with proper documentation and authorization, received protection and sanctuary as they traveled through Mongol realms. Well-traveled and relatively well-maintained roads linked lands from the Mediterranean basin to China, and greatly increasing overland trade, and resulting in some dramatic stories of those who traveled what became known as the Silk Road. One of the best known travelers from West to East was Marco Polo, and a comparable journey from East to West was that of the Chinese Mongol monk Rabban Bar Sauma, who traveled from his home of Khanbaliq (Beijing) as far as Europe. Missionaries such as William of Rubruck also traveled to the Mongol court, on missions of conversion, or as papal envoys, carrying correspondence between the Pope and the Mongols as attempts were made to form a Franco-Mongol alliance. It was rare though for anyone to travel the entire length of the Silk Road. Instead, traders moved products much like a bucket brigade, with luxury goods being traded from one middleman to another, from China to the West, and resulting in extravagant prices for the trade goods

• During the Crusades- the crusades lead to : 1. and enhanced power of the European monarchs (taxes to support the armies) 2. introduced Europeans to the Easts luxuries (spices, silk, perfume, medicine) 3. encouraged the growth of a merchant and artisan middle class 4. increased the geographical knowledge among Europeans 5. exposed Europeans to different art, science, technology, and islam 6. developed many wealthy trading cities (EX: Venice and Genoa) and internal-European trading routes.

Key Concept 3.3. Increased Economic Productive

Capacity and Its Consequences

II. The fate of cities varied greatly, with periods of significant

decline, and with periods of increased urbanization buoyed by rising

productivity and expanding trade networks.

A. Multiple factors contributed to the declines of urban areas in this

period.

Required examples of these factors:

• Invasions- with invasions people were driven off of the land and their urban setting and form of social class is destroyed and replaced with the conquering groups beliefs and powers(EX: English Farmers in the 1500’s)

• Disease- with any large population, people are forced together. People that are in abundance and in tight quarters are more likely to spread disease due to their lack of virus control and close proximities. AIDS (Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome) spread quickl in Sub- Saharan Africa and is now the fourth largest killer in the world even though it was first reported in 1981; The Black Death was another pandemic that swept through EURASIA AND north Sfrica from 1331- around 1352 and ended up killing almost half of the people in Europe and was carried through busy trade and city ports in the form of rats and fleas;

• The decline of agricultural productivity- with a lack of agricultural productivity (caused by a lack of people to proceed with the labor) can be a cause of deadly problems such as famine and disease; with a lack of productivity, there is not enough food to keep the people fed which leads to the people being sick and dying of starvation; since people are without food, they are more likely to obtain and pass on illnesses and diseases because their immune system is down; all of this can lead to the decline and downfall of a once thriving city due to the weakness of the military and people

• The Little Ice Age- period of cooling which occured after the Medieval Warm Period; period extending from the 16th-19th century; causes a decrease in the population because of the extreme temperatures that people cannot survive; crops also died due to extreme weather conditions which left people to starve

B. Multiple factors contributed to urban revival.

Required examples of these factors:

• The end of invasions- with the end of invasions usually comes a revival of either a new government and group of people and leaders or the strengthening of the old one; with the end of invasions comes a winner and a loser; whoever the winner is, takes over the land that they aqquired; with a new leader comes new powers and the cycle starts all over again where the group gains power for a while until the next leader comes along to rival them.

• The availability of safe and reliable transport- a luxury for people because they were able to freely travel and trade throughout their terittory while feeling safe; this also lead to a greater amount of trade because people felt safer to move around and trade instead of being afraid of attack

• The rise of commerce and the warmer temperatures between 800

and 1300- also known as the Medieval Warm Period; was followed by an incredibly cold period called the “Little Ice Age”; increased commerce due to an increase of buying/ selling;

• Increased agricultural productivity and subsequent rising

population- with an increase of agricutltural productivity (food) came a larger population because poeple were given more food which lead to stronger workers which led to a rise in population

• Greater availability of labor also contributed to urban growth- with more opportunities of cheap labor comes an increase in urban building because there are more people who can build and provide the labor needed to create homes and urban areas; this also lead to greater job prodcution in general

Required examples of forms of labor organization:

• Free peasant agriculture- defined as the cultivation of crops and on a smaller scale, animal pastoralization; peasant farmers usually sell their good in small and local marketplaces to cut down on the costs of putting their products into a larger scale trade network; they mainly use small tools and man power to get through all of the labor involved; creates a larger scale of agrictulture with more variety of good being produced.

• Nomadic pastoralism- this is moving from place to place in order to keep up with the ever changing lands to grow and produce agricultural products; and livestock are hearded around frequently so that they always have enough grass and natural resources to feed on;

• Craft production and guild organization- the process by which people produce their goods without any form of tools and all with their own labor/ handy-work; this occurred greatly throughout the pre- industrialized world

• Various forms of coerced and unfree labor- Unfree Labor: when people are employed with the constant threat of injury or death looming over them;

• Government-imposed labor taxes- the tax that a government puts on people in order to increase the over all benefit of the state’s people for safety and maintenance

• Military obligations- with military origanization and an obligation at a certain age or other factor to go into the military allows for a unifed front and a strong army; if a person is required to go into the army, the army will therefore be much stronger due to its vastness; if the requirement is for a certain age (usually when school is finished, therefore a younger age) the people who are in the army will be young and strong

Teach one illustrative example of regions where free peasants revolted,

either from the list below or an example of your choice:

• China- 859 at the end of the Tang Dynasty; 1351 during the Song Dynasty; also occured during the Yuan Dynasty

• The Byzantine Empire- 532 AD: during the Byzantine empire in Constantinople, the Nika Revolt occurred; half the city was burned and tens of thousands were brutally killed

misc:

• Novgorod- near the Volkhov River in northwestern Russia; considered Russia’s oldest city; 862: founded by Rurik; was ruled by Alexander Nevsky;

• Timbuktu- located in the African country, Mali; located close to the Niger River Delta; on the southern edge of the Saharan Desert; capitol of the Timbuktu Region; its Golden Age: when Islamic Scholars had a great amount of power and created a huge trade center in the Trans – Sahran Trade route; the major trade occured between the Niger River Delta and local trade with the Saharan Pastoralists; founded in 1000;

• The Swahili city-states- The Swahili are Bantu inhabitants on the coast of East Africa, in Kenya, Tanzania and Mozambique. They are mainly united under the mother tongue of Kiswahili, a Bantu language.[1] This also extends to Arab, Persian, and other migrants who reached the coast some believe as early as the 7th-8th c. CE, and mixed with the local people there, providing considerable cultural infusion and numerous loan words fromArabic and Persian.[2] Archaeologist, Felix Chami notes the presence of Bantu settlements straddling the East African coast as early as the beginning of the 1st millennium. They evolved gradually from the 6th century onward to accommodate for an increase in trade (mainly with Arab merchants), population growth, and further centralized urbanization; developing into what would later become known as the Swahili City-States.

• Hangzhou- city located in eastern china; the captial of the largest city (Zhejiang); pop: around 2 million

• Calicut- a seaport in southwest India; near the Malbar Coast

• Baghdad- largest city in Iran/ capitol; located near/ on the Tigris River

• Melaka- 1511: conquered by the Portugese; built the trade network between Europe and the East (esp. China)

• Venice- capitol of Ventia Region in Northern Italy; major trading port

• Tenochtitlan- Capital of the Aztec Empire, located on an island in Lake Texcoco. Its population was about 150,000 on the eve of Spanish conquest. Mexico City was constructed on its ruins.

• Cahokia- villiage in SW illinois; across the Mississippi River from St. Louis; hold pre- Colombian works

• Silk and cotton textiles- major trading goods; west wanted silk very badly because they only had cotton and wool which were rough fabric (silk=luxury)

• Porcelain- a fine china from created in China; increased China’s economy greatly due to this being considered a luxury; a very fragile type of ceramics;

• Spices- were traded and they were very useful to rotten food. Spices meant that people could season their food & they don’t waste as much food if they season it. Because when it is seasoned, it tastes better. Spices also aided in the discovery of different foods and tastes, cultures.

• Precious metals and

gems- Metal: a solid, hard and shiny solid that is taken from the ground and able to be heated and molded into different objects, mainly built and constructed to make tools for agricultural things Gems: a precious or semiprecious stone that is extracted from the ground; they are considered a luxury and very expensive due to their difficulty to take from the ground and their rarity ; they can be polished, engraved and cut

Slaves- slaves were traded so that they could do manual labor. They had no legal rights, marrying was not recognized, they could not own property, they had little legal protection, they were sol away from their families, & they could not learn to read & write.

• Caravanserai-was a roadside inn where travelers could rest and recover from the day’s journey.

• Camel saddles- they helped so that people could stay on top of the camels. They also helped in keeping goods from falling off of the camel.

• Bills of exchange- type of money, very useful in trading because it was easier to carry around and exchange. It was lighter than coins & they didn’t jingle & they were less of a hassle than coins.

• Credit-The ability to obtain goods or services before payment, based on the trust that payment will be made in the future: “unlimited credit”.

• Checks-A written order to a bank to pay a stated sum from the drawer’s account.

• Banking houses-were used to store & keep people’s money. This was a safer place to keep one’s money.

• Minting of coins-when discussing the history of the New Orleans Mint, the usage of that mint by the Confederate States of America beginning in 1861 is a notable occurrence. The origins of the Philadelphia Mint, which began operations in 1792 and first produced circulating coinage in 1793, are interwoven with the initiation of the Federal era of the United States.

• Use of paper money- paper money was lighter and easier to handle. People could carry it with them without a noise and it was more convenient to keep track of it. It was easier with transactions.

• Hanseatic League- a trade alliance between major cities & small towns along the Baltic & North Seas that formed in the 13th century. The Hanseatic League was centered in Lübeck, Germany, & had alomost total control over trade in the Blatic & North Seas; however, it went into decline in the 16h & 17th centuries, as it was eclipsed in the region by the English, Dutch, & Swedes.

•

• The way Scandinavian Vikings used their longships to travel incoastal and open waters as well as in rivers and estuaries-’Longships (Icelandic:langskip) were naval vessels made and used by the Vikings from Scandinavia and Iceland for trade, commerce, exploration, and warfare during the Viking Age. (google def.)

• The way the Arabs and Berbers adapted camels to travel across and around the Sahara- used for trade. A large, long-necked ungulate mammal of arid country, with long slender legs, broad cushioned feet, and either one or two humps on the back. Camels can survive for long periods without food or drink, chiefly by using up the fat reserves in their humps

• The way Central Asian pastoral groups used horses to travel in the steppes- intimidated others because horses were able to run fast & travel long distances, and they were bigger than people were. They were very useful to people because, then people could just ride horses instead. A solid-hoofed plant-eating domesticated mammal with a flowing mane and tail, used for riding, racing, and to carry and pull loads (google def.)

• The spread of Bantu languages including Swahili- the Bantu left because of the use of trees that was occurring. Trees around them were being used & burned. Because of this they had to leave. Because they left, the languages also spread.

• The spread of Turkic and Arabic languages-The oldest records of a Turkic language, the Old Turkic Orkhon inscriptions of the 7th century Göktürk khaganate, already show characteristics of the Eastern branch of Turkic, and reconstruction of Proto-Turkic must rely on comparisons of Old Turkic with early sources of the Western branches, Oghuz and Kypchak, as well as the Oghur branch (Bulgar, Chuvash,Hunnic, Khazar, Turkic Avar). Since attestation of these non-Eastern languages is much more sparse, reconstruction of Proto-Turkic still rests fundamentally on East Old Turkic of the Göktürks. The earliest surviving texts in Proto-Arabic, or Ancient North Arabian, are the Hasaean inscriptions of eastern Saudi Arabia, from the 8th century BC, written not in the modern Arabic alphabet, nor in its Nabataean ancestor, but in variants of the epigraphicSouth Arabian musnad. These are followed by 6th-century BC Lihyanite texts from southeastern Saudi Arabia and the Thamudictexts found throughout Arabia and the Sinai, and not actually connected with Thamud. Later come the Safaitic inscriptions beginning in the 1st century BC, and the many Arabic personal names attested in Nabataean inscriptions (which are, however, written in Aramaic). From about the 2nd century BC, a few inscriptions from Qaryat al-Fāw (near Sulayyil) reveal a dialect which is no longer considered “Proto-Arabic”, but Pre-Classical Arabic. By the fourth century AD, the Arab kingdoms of the Lakhmidsin southern Iraq and the Ghassanids in southern Syria appeared. The Kindite Kingdom emerged in Central Arabia. Their courts were responsible for some notable examples of pre-Islamic Arabic poetry, and for some of the few surviving pre-Islamic Arabic inscriptions in the Arabic script (wiki)

• Muslim merchant communities in the Indian Ocean region-The community had an influence on the communities they came in contact with as they settled. There was fusion of Islamic and other indigenous cultures. This was in the context of military expansion and trade as well. There was also reinforcement of kingship by Islam in different areas. States such as, the Sudanese, built mosques in support of the Islam rulers and even attended public prayers

• Chinese merchant communities in Southeast Asia-China’s Ming emperors regarded the conduct of foreign trade as an important facet of political power and prestige. The point of articulation was the Chinese tribute system. Foreign states wanting to trade with China had to pay tribute to the emperor at specified ports of call (Canton being the designated locale for envoys from Southeast Asian states). This tribute was not merely a material gift or donation. Ming emperors regarded it as an act of political submission with feudal overtones. When they established trade relations with China, envoy states acknowledged Ming overlordship. During the 15th century, numerous Southeast Asian rulers, including the kings of Java, Siam and Champa (present-day Vietnam), sent tribute missions to China. The Ming government regarded private commerce with foreigners as illegal, synonymous with piracy. The overtly political context of China’s trade relations with outsiders had an important cultural impact on countries in Southeast Asia, many of which imported various Chinese customs along with trade goods and theoretical vassal status. Champa, which maintained close contact with China, was sending students to study there by 1371.

• Sogdian merchant communities throughout Central Asia- It is Sogdiana that is here referred to as the area between Dayuan (Ferghana [seeFARḠĀNA]) and Anxi (the Parthian empire). This description contrasts, however, with those about the neighboring regions, where the presence of long-distance merchants is emphasized. Archeology indeed bears witness, for the period before our era, only to limited regional trade in Sogdiana (turquoise from Ferghana to Samarkand), contrasting with that of the neighboring regions (Chinese imports to Ferghana). The economy appears to have been very little based on money and, rather, to have been dominated by agricultural exchange. China of the Han period sent numerous embassies with a large number of rolls of silk and other products of the empire, in order to ingratiate itself with the nomadic aristocracies (Yuezhi, Wusun, Kangju) who dominated political life in Central Asia, so as to fight against its Xiongnu enemies. The Sogdians traded with the Chinese envoys on a small scale, while in Bactria and Gandhara merchants discovered how much they would be able to benefit by developing a market for Chinese silk in India, Iran, and the Hellenized Near East. The latter decided to re-export the silk brought by the embassies and even took the road to China, pretending to be ambassadors so as to buy the silk right at its source (Han shu 96 A, p. 3885; tr. Hulsewé and Loewe, p. 109). The Sogdians were to imitate them. In 29 and 11 BCE, ambassadors from Kangju, a nomad state centered on the middle reaches of the Syr Daria but at that time including Sogdiana, presented themselves at the Chinese court pronouncing the word “commerce”

• Jewish communities in the Mediterranean, Indian Ocean basin, or along the Silk Roads- Since Roman times Jews were found in many cities throughout the Mediterranean region. After the fall of Jerusalem in 66 c.e., Jews were scattered even wider. This scattering of the Jews is called the Diaspora, which means dispersion in Greek. The Jews that settled in Spain [Sepharad in Hebrew] came to be called the Sephardim or Sephardic Jews. They lived among the Islamic Moors and the Catholic Spanish. This influenced their language and culture. These Jews came to speak a language related to Spanish called Ladino.

• Ibn Battuta-was a Muslim Berber Moroccan explorer, known for his extensive travels published in the Rihla (lit. “Journey”). Over a period of thirty years, he visited most of the known Islamic world, including North Africa, the Horn of Africa, West Africa, Southern Europe and Eastern Europe in the West, to the Middle East, South Asia, Central Asia, Southeast Asia and China in the East, a distance surpassing his near-contemporary Marco Polo. Ibn Battuta is considered one of the greatest travellers of all time.[2] He journeyed more than 75,000 miles (121,000 km), a figure unsurpassed by any individual explorer until the coming of the Steam Age some 450 years later.

• Marco Polo- (1200s) Travels from Italy to present day Beijing. (Mongolia) Then goes back to Italy after 20 yrs. in China. He brought back paper money. Gets put in jail because gets in a trade war. Writes a book in jail about his travels in China & the wealth from spices. His book became a best seller. He inspired people to explore (ex. Christopher Columbus)

• Xuanzang- [c.602 – 664] was a famous Chinese Buddhist monk, scholar, traveler, and translator who described the interaction between China and India in the early Tang period. (google def.)

• The influence of Neoconfucianism and Buddhism in East Asia- reemergence of scholar-gently class, weakening of military influence, restrictions on merchant class; urging scholar-gently, institutionalizing of civil service examination system, large idle bureaucracy, 5 relationships, gender distinctions, & tradition. (Peterson’s AP World History)

• Hinduism and Buddhism in Southeast Asia-Buddhism: A widespread Asian religion or philosophy, founded by Siddartha Gautama in northeastern India in the 5th century bc. Hinduism: A major religious and cultural tradition of the Indian subcontinent, developed from Vedic religion (google def.)

• Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia- Islam had already spread into northern Africa by the mid-seventh century A.D., only a few decades after the Prophet Muhammad moved with his followers from Mecca to Medina on the neighboring Arabian Peninsula (622 A.D./1 A.H.). The Arab conquest of Spain and the push of Arab armies as far as the Indus River culminated in an empire that stretched over three continents, a mere hundred years after the Prophet’s death. Between the eighth and ninth centuries, Arab traders and travelers, then African clerics, began to spread the religion along the eastern coast of Africa and to the western and central Sudan (literally, “Land of Black people”), stimulating the development of urban communities. Given its negotiated, practical approach to different cultural situations, it is perhaps more appropriate to consider Islam in Africa in terms of its multiple histories rather then as a unified movement.

• Toltec/Mexica and Inca traditions in Mesoamerica and Andean America- The Incas drew on the artistic traditions of their Andean predecessors and the skills of subject peoples. Beautiful pottery and cloth was produced in specialized workshops. Inca metallurgy was among the most advanced of the Americas, and Inca artisans worked gold and silver with great technical skill. The Incas also used copper and some bronze for weapons and tools. Like the Mesoamerican peoples, the Incas made no practical use of the wheel, but unlike them, they had no system of writing. The Incas, however, did make use of a system of knotted strings, or quipu, with which numerical and perhaps other information could be recorded. It functioned something like an abacus, and with it the Incas took censuses and kept financial records. The Incas had a passion for numerical order, and the population was divided into decimal units from which population, military enlistment, and work details could be calculated. The existence of so many traits associated with civilization in the Old World and yet the absence of a system of writing among the Incas should make us realize the variation of human development and the dangers of becoming too attached to certain characteristics or cultural features in defining civilizations. Inca genius was best displayed in their statecraft and in their architecture and public buildings. Inca stonecutting was remarkably accurate and the best buildings were constructed of large fitted stones without the use of masonry. Some of these buildings were immense. These constructions, the large agricultural terraces and irrigation projects, and the extensive system of roads were among the Incas’ greatest achievements, displaying their technical ability and workmanship as well as their ability to mobilize large amounts of manpower.

• The influence of Greek and Indian mathematics on Muslim scholars-In the history of mathematics, mathematics in medieval Islam, often termed Islamic mathematics or Arabic mathematics, covers the body of mathematics preserved and developed under the Islamic civilization between circa 622 and 1600.[1] Islamic science and mathematics flourished under the Islamic caliphate established across the Middle East, extending from the Iberian Peninsula in the west to the Indus in the east and to the Almoravid Dynasty and Mali Empire in the south. Islamic mathematicians exercised a prolific influence on the development of science in Europe, enriched as much by their own discoveries as those they had inherited by the Greeks, the Indians, the Syrians, the Babylonians,etc. (wiki)

• The return of Greek science and philosophy to Western Europe via Muslim al-Andalus in Iberia-In the seventh century A.D., the prophet Muhammad (SAW) was sent to the people of Arabia. Within a decade of his death the Muslims had conquered all of the Arabian peninsula. Within acentury, Islam had spread from Al-Andalus in Spain to the borders of China. Islam unified science, theology, and philosophy. Muslims were commanded to study, seek knowledge, and learn and benefit from others’ experiences by Allah (SWT) in the holy Quran and by the prophet Muhammad (SAW) in the Sunnah. It was this that inspired the Muslims to great heights in sciences, medicine, mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, philosophy, art and architecture. Muslim scholars began obtaining Greek treatises and started their study and translation into Arabic a few centuries after the Hijrah (622 A.D.) They critically analyzed, collated , corrected and supplemented substantially the Greek science and philosophy. After this period began what is known as the Golden Age of Islam, which lasted for over two centuries. It is here we find many of the great scientists of Islam who literally left behind hundreds and thousands of books on the various branches of science. Abu Ali al-Hussain Ibn Abdallah Ibn Sina, universally known as Avicinna (980-1037), alone wrote 246 books, including Kitab-al Shifa (The Book of Healing) consisting of 20 volumes and Al-Qanun fit Tibb (The Canons of Medicine) . The Qanun was the chief guide for medical science in the West from the twelfth to the seventeenth century. Dr. William Osler, who wrote The Evolution of Modern Science, remarks “The Qanun has remained a medical Bible for a longer period than any other work”. Containing over a million words, it surveyed the entire medical knowledge available from ancient and Muslim sources, and including his own original contributions.

• The spread of printing and gunpowder technologies from East Asia into the Islamic empires and Western Europe-The c ultural exchange between China and the West offered mutual benefit and achieved common progress. The Chinese Four Great Inventions (paper making, printing, gunpowder and compass) as well as the skills of silkworm breeding and silk spinning were transmitted to the West. This greatly sped up the development of the entire world. Apart from Chinese exquisite goods, many Chinese advanced technologies were also exported to the west, such as the silkworms breading, silk spinning, paper making, printing with movable type and gunpowder. In Han Dynasty (206 BC–220 AD), China had a monopoly on silk trade by keeping the silk’s production technology a secret. A Han princess smuggled silkworms and mulberry seedlings as well as skilled workmen into Yutian (now Hetian). It was not until the 12th century AD that this technology reached to West Europe. In 750, a war between the Tang Dynasty (618-907) and the Arab Empire broke out in Bishkek City and the Tang troops were defeated. As a result, Arabs took Chinese prisoners to Samarkand along the Silk Road. Among them there were paper making workmen. In Tang Dynasty, Printing Technique had been introduced into the Central Asia. In the thirteenth century, many European travelers reached China through the Silk Road and brought back Printing Technique to Europe. In 1444, Gutenberg, a German inventor of letterpress printing, printed the Bible using a similar printing technique.

• Bananas in Africa- Southeast Asian farmers first domesticated bananas. Recent archaeological and palaeoenvironmental evidence at Kuk Swamp in the Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea suggests that banana cultivation there goes back to at least 5000 BCE, and possibly to 8000 BCE. It is likely that other species were later and independently domesticated elsewhere in southeast Asia. Southeast Asia is the region ofprimary diversity of the banana. Areas of secondary diversity are found in Africa, indicating a long history of banana cultivation in the region. Actual and probable diffusion of bananas during Islamic times (700–1500 CE) Phytolith discoveries in Cameroon dating to the first millennium BCE triggered an as yet unresolved debate about the date of first cultivation in Africa. There is linguistic evidence that bananas were known in Madagascar around that time. The earliest prior evidence indicates that cultivation dates to no earlier than late 6th century CE.[24] It is likely, however, that bananas were brought at least toMadagascar if not to the East African coast during the phase of Malagasy colonization of the island from South East Asia c. 400 CE.

• New rice varieties in East Asia-The commonly accepted view is that rice was first domesticated in the region of the Yangtze River valley in China. Morphological studies of rice phytoliths from the Diaotonghuan archaeological site clearly show the transition from the collection of wild rice to the cultivation of domesticated rice. The large number of wild rice phytoliths at the Diaotonghuan level dating from 12,000–11,000 BP indicates that wild rice collection was part of the local means of subsistence. Changes in the morphology of Diaotonghuan phytoliths dating from 10,000–8,000 BP show that rice had by this time been domesticated. Soon afterwards the two major varieties of Indica andJaponica/Sinica rice were being grown in Central China. In the late 3rd millennium BC, there was a rapid expansion of rice cultivation into mainland Southeast Asia and westwards across India and Nepal. In 2003, Korean archaeologists claimed to have discovered the world’s oldest domesticated rice.[29] Their 15,000 year old age challenges the accepted view that rice cultivation originated in China about 12,000 years ago.[29]These findings were received by academia with strong skepticism, and the results and their publicizing has been cited as being driven by a combination of nationalist and regional interests. In 2011, a combined effort by the Stanford University, New York University, Washington University in St. Louis, and Purdue University has provided the strongest evidence yet that there is only one single origin of domesticated rice, in the Yangtze Valleyof China.

• The spread of cotton, sugar, and citrus throughout Dar al-Islam and the Mediterranean basin-Mediterranean trade routes promoted the growth of powerful trading cities in this time period by allowing wealth to flow in and out of cities, making them more powerful. The relationship was reliant on one to grow the other (i.e.- you had to have trade in order for cities to grow and you have to be growing constantly in order to have lots of trade) and because of this, both the trade and the cities grew. In conclusion, Mediterranean trade routes promoted the growth of powerful trading cities in this time period by allowing wealth to flow in and out of cities, making them more powerful.

• Patriarchy-A system of society or government in which the father or eldest male is head of the family and descent is traced through the male line (google def.)

• Religion-The belief in and worship of a superhuman controlling power, esp. a personal God or gods (google def.)

• Land-owning elites-Just as under the Ptolemies, Alexandria and its citizens had their own special designations. The capital city enjoyed a higher status and more privileges than the rest of Egypt. Just as it was under the Ptolemies, the primary way of becoming a citizen of Roman Alexandria was through showing when registering for a demethat both parents were Alexandrian citizens. Alexandrians were the only Egyptians that could obtain Roman citizenship.[8] If a common Egyptian wanted to become a Roman citizen he would first have to become an Alexandrian citizen. The Augustan period in Egypt saw the creation of urban communities with “Hellenic” landowning elites. These landowning elites were put in a position of privilege and power and had more self-administration than the Egyptian population. Within the citizenry, there were gymnasiums that Greek citizens could enter if they showed that both parents were members of the gymnasium based on a list that was compiled by the government in 4-5 AD.[9] The candidate for the gymnasium would then be let into the ephebus. There was also the council of elders known as the gerousia. This council of elders did not have a boulai to answer to. All of this Greek organization was a vital part of the metropolis and the Greek institutions provided an elite group of citizens. The Romans looked to these elites to provide municipal officers and well-educated administrators.[10] These elites also paid lower poll-taxes than the local native Egyptians, fellahin. It is well documented that Alexandrians in particular were able to enjoy lower tax-rates on land.[11] Interestingly enough, these privileges even extended to corporal punishments. Romans were protected from this type of punishment while native Egyptians were whipped. Alexandrians, on the other hand, had the privilege of merely being beaten with a rod.[12] Although Alexandria enjoyed the greatest status of the Greek cities in Egypt, it is clear that the other Greek cities, such as Antinoopolis, enjoyed privileges very similar to the ones seen in Alexandria.[13]All of these changes amounted to the Greeks being treated as an ally in Egypt and the native Egyptians were treated as a conquered race. (wiki)

• New methods of taxation-The United States has an assortment of federal, state, local, and special purpose governmental jurisdictions. Each imposes taxes to fully or partly fund its operations. These taxes may be imposed on the same income, property or activity, often without offset of one tax against another. The types of tax imposed at each level of government vary, in part due to constitutional restrictions. Income taxes are imposed at the federal and most state levels. Taxes on property are typically imposed only at the local level, though there may be multiple local jurisdictions that tax the same property. Excise taxes are imposed by the federal and some state governments. Sales taxes are imposed by most states and many local governments. Customs duties or tariffs are only imposed by the federal government. A wide variety of other taxes, some called user or license fees, are imposed. (wiki)

• Tributary systems-A system in which, from the time of the Han Empire, countries in East and Southeast Asia not under the direct control of empires based in China nevertheless enrolled as tributary states, acknowledging the superiority of the emperors in China in exchange for trading rights (google def.)

• Adaptation of religious institutions-The adaptation and renewal of the religious life includes both the constant return to the sources of all Christian life and to the original spirit of the institutes and their adaptation to the changed conditions of our time.

• Abbasids-The Abbasid caliphate or, more simply, the Abbasids (العبّاسيّون / ISO 233), was the third of the Islamic caliphates. It was ruled by the Abbasid dynasty of caliphs, who built their capital in Baghdad after overthrowing the Umayyad caliphs from all but the Al Andalus region. (google def.)

• Muslim Iberia-The etymology of the word “Al-Andalus” is disputed. Furthermore, the extent of Iberian territory encompassed by the name changed over the centuries. As a designation for Iberia or its southern portion, the name is first attested by inscriptions on coins minted by the new Muslim government in Iberia circa 715 (the uncertainty in the year is due to the fact that the coins were bilingual in Latin and Arabic and the two inscriptions differ as to the year of minting). (wiki)

• Delhi Sultanates-Centralized Indian empire of varying extent, created by Muslim invaders. (google def.)

• city-states , in the Italian peninsula-The first Italian city-states appeared in northern Italy as a result of a struggle to gain independence from the GermanHoly Roman Empire.[1] The Lombard League was an alliance formed around 1167, which at its apex included most of the cities of northern Italy including, among others, Milan, Piacenza, Cremona, Mantua, Crema, Bergamo,Brescia, Bologna, Padua, Treviso, Vicenza, Venice, Verona, Lodi, Reggio Emilia and Parma, though its membership changed through time. Other city-states were associated to these “commune” cities, like Genoa, Turin and, in the Adriatic, Ragusa. (wiki)

• In East Africa-From the approximately 1000 to 1500 AD, a number of city-states on the eastern coast of Africa participated in an international trade network and became cosmopolitan Islamic cultural centers. The major autonomous, but symbiotic, city-states stretched over 1,500 miles from Mogadishu (in modern day Somalia) in the north to Sofala (in modern Mozambique) in the south and included Mombasa, Gedi, Pate, Lamu, Malindi, Zanzibar, and Kilwa. (http://www.blackpast.org/?q=gah/east-african-city-states)

• In Southeast Asia-the Republic of Singapore, is a Southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, 137 kilometres (85 mi) north of the equator. An island country made up of 63 islands, it is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia‘sRiau Islands by the Singapore Strait to its south. Singapore is highly urbanised but almost half of the country is covered by greenery. More land is being created for development through land reclamation. (wiki)

• In the Americas- http://arbesman.net/city-states.pdf

• Persian traditions that influenced Islamic states-The composite Turko-Persian tradition[1] was a variant of Islamic culture.[2] It was Persianate in that it was centered on a lettered tradition of Iranian origin; it was Turkic insofar as it was for many generations patronized by rulers of Turkic background; it was Islamic in that Islamic notions of virtue, permanence, and excellence infused discourse about public issues as well as the religious affairs of the Muslims, who were the presiding elite

• Chinese traditions that influenced states in Japan-Language. The Japanese had no written language at the time of their first contact with the Chinese and their use of Chinese proved important for the purpose of political unification under the Japanese Emperor. Religion. Buddhism and Confucianism are important features of Chinese culture. As a systematic belief system, Buddhism forced the local Japanese religions, which were less coherent systems, to define themselves in relation to Buddhism. Confucianism, a systematic religious belief system, had a lot to say about governance and society and proved attractive for the Japanese. Consequently it had an important influence on Japanese culture. System of government. The method of organization of the Imperial Court, a significant element of ancient Chinese culture, was also adopted by the Japanese. The Japanese Imperial Court as well as its bureaucracy, including titles, ranks and functions, soon came to be modeled after Confucian principles. City-planning is also an aspect of Chinese culture borrowed by the Japanese. Kyoto and Nara, capital cities constructed along these lines, are examples. Several localities around these old capital cities reveal a system of fields and irrigation systems divided into even rectangles based on the ancient Chinese model of city planning. The use of a road system to hasten communication and control rebelling localities are also important features of this system of planning. (http://www.char4u.com/article_info.php?articles_id=47)

• Champa rice varieties-Champa rice is a quick-maturing, drought resistant rice that can allow two harvests, of sixty days each, in one growing season. Originally introduced into Champa from Vietnam, it was later sent to China as a tribute gift from the Champa state. (google def.)

• The chinampa field systems-Often referred to as “floating gardens,” chinampas were artificial islands that usually measured roughly 30 × 2.5 m (98 × 8.2 ft), although they were sometimes longer. They were used by the ancient Aztec Indians. They were created by staking out the shallow lake bed and then fencing in the rectangle with wattle. The fenced-off area was then layered with mud, lake sediment, and decaying vegetation, eventually bringing it above the level of the lake. Often trees such as āhuexōtl(Salix bonplandiana)[1] and āhuēhuētl (Taxodium mucronatum)[2] were planted at the corners to secure the chinampa. Chinampas were separated by channels wide enough for a canoe to pass. These “islands” had very high crop yields with up to seven crops a year. (wiki)

• Waru waru agricultural techniques in the Andean areas-The terraces throughout the Andean slopes, and the waru-waru (raised fields) and qochas in the Altiplano are sophisticated expressions of landscape modification that have historically rendered more than a million hectares of land for agricultural purposes (Rengifo 1987). The past and present existence of these and other forms of intensive agricultural systems document a successful adaptation to difficult environments by indigenous farmers. In fact, applied research conducted on these systems reveals that many traditional farming practices, once regarded as primitive or misguided, are now being recognised as sophisticated and appropriate. (http://www.farmingsolutions.org/successtories/stories.asp?id=37)

• Improved terracing techniques-erraces are used in farming to cultivate sloped land. Graduated terrace steps are commonly used to farm on hilly or mountainous terrain. Terraced fields decrease erosion and surface runoff, and are effective for growing crops requiring much water, such as rice. (wiki)

• The horse collar-A horse collar is a part of a horse harness device used to distribute load around a horse’s neck and shoulders when pulling a wagon or plow. The collar often supports a pair of curved metal or wood pieces, called hames, to which the traces of the harness are attached.

Period 4: Global Interactions, c. 1450 to c. 1750

Key Concept 4.1. Globalizing Networks of

Communication and Exchange

Key Concept 4.2. New Forms of Social Organization

and Modes of Production

Key Concept 4.3. State Consolidation and Imperial

Expansion

Land empires expanded dramatically in size.

Required examples of land empires:

• Manchus- Qing Dynasty was founded not by Han Chinese, who form the majority of the Chinese population, but by a semi-sedentary people known as the Jurchen, a Tungusic people who lived around the region now comprising the Chinese provinces of Jilin and Heilongjiang. What was to become the Manchu state was founded by Nurhachi, the chieftain of a minor Jurchen tribe – the Aisin Gioro – in Jianzhou in the early 17th century. Originally a vassal of the Ming emperors, Nurhachi embarked on an inter-tribal feud in 1582 that escalated into a campaign to unify the nearby tribes. By 1616, he had sufficiently consolidated Jianzhou so as to be able to proclaim himself Khan of the Great Jin in reference to the previous Jurchen dynasty. Two years later, Nurhachi announced the “Seven Grievances” and openly renounced the sovereignty of Ming overlordship in order to complete the unification of those Jurchen tribes still allied with the Ming emperor. After a series of successful battles, he relocated his capital from Hetu Ala to successively bigger captured Ming cities in Liaodong Province: first Liaoyang in 1621, then Shenyang (Mukden) in 1625. Relocating his court from Jianzhou to Liaodong provided Nurhachi access to more resources; it also brought him in close contact with theMongol domains on the plains of Mongolia. Although by this time the once-united Mongol nation had long since fragmented into individual and hostile tribes, these tribes still presented a serious security threat to the Ming borders.

• Mughals- empirer welcomed the English East India Company; they were soon destroyed by Western and other European powers due to their “openness”; was and imperial power from the Indian Subcontinent; began in 1526; late 17th century and early 18th century was its height of power; controlled most of the Indian Subcontinent; the reign of Akbar was when they conquered the most land

• Ottomans- conquered land and people with their large military; traded with the West and enlarged their empire at the expense of the west; tried to hit and capture western places to enlarge their domain; 1453: captured Constantinople and crashed the Byzantine Empire; their most western invasion was Vienna; also fought with the Holy Roman Empire and in the end gained control of their eastern portion

• Russians- The Russian Empire (Pre-reform Russian orthography: Россійская Имперія, Modern Russian: Российская Империя, translit:Rossiyskaya Imperiya) was a state that existed from 1721 until the Russian Revolution of 1917. It was the successor to the Tsardom of Russia and the predecessor of the short-lived Russian Republic, which was succeeded by the Soviet Union. It was one of thelargest empires in world history, surpassed in landmass only by the British and Mongol empires: at one point in 1866, it stretched from eastern Europe across Asia and into North America. At the beginning of the 19th century the Russian Empire extended from the Arctic Ocean in the north to the Black Sea on the south, from the Baltic Sea on the west to the Pacific Ocean and into North America on the east. With 125.6 million subjects registered by the 1897 census, it had the third largest population of the world at the time, after Qing China and the British Empire. Like all empires it represented a large disparity in economic, ethnic, and religious positions. Its government, ruled by the Emperor, was the lastabsolute monarchy in Europe at the time of its demise.

Required examples of maritime empires:

•

Portuguese-In 1505, Portuguese traders reached Ceylon; their initial forays were against Kotte, which enjoyed a lucrative monopoly on the spice trade, which was also of interest to the Portuguese.[29] Although Cankili I of Jaffna initially resisted contact with them, the Jaffna kingdom came to the attention of Portuguese officials soon after for their resistance to missionary activities as well as logistical reasons due to its proximity with Trincomalee harbour among other reasons.[29] In April 1511 Albuquerque sailed to Malacca in Malaysia,[30] the most important east point in the trade network where Malay met Gujarati, Chinese, Japanese, Javanese, Bengali, Persian and Arabic traders, among others, described by Tomé Pires as of invaluable richness. The peninsula of Malacca became then the strategic base for Portuguese trade expansion with China and South-east Asia, under the Portuguese rule with its capital at Goa. To defend the city was erected a strong gate which, called the “A Famosa”, still remains. Knowing of Siamese ambitions over Malacca, Albuquerque sent immediately Duarte Fernandes on a diplomatic mission to the kingdom of Siam (modern Thailand), where he was the first European to arrive, establishing amicable relations between both kingdoms.[31] In November that year, getting to know the location of the so-called “Spice Islands” in the Moluccas, he sent an expedition led by António de Abreu to find them, arriving in early 1512. Abreu went by Ambon while deputy commander Francisco Serrão came forward to Ternate, where a Portuguese fort was allowed. That same year, in Indonesia, the Portuguese took Makassar, reaching Timor in 1514. Departing from Malacca, Jorge Álvares came to southern China in 1513. This visit was followed the arrival in Guangzhou. From 1516 on Portuguese traders established in Shangchuan Island, until in 1557 the Ming court gave consent for a permanent official Portuguese trade base at Macau. The Portuguese empire expanded into the Persian Gulf as Portugal contested control of the spice trade with the Ottoman Empire. In 1515, Afonso de Albuquerque conquered the Huwala state of Hormuz at the head of the Persian Gulf, establishing it as a vassal state.Aden, however, resisted Albuquerque’s expedition in that same year, and another attempt by Albuquerque’s successor Lopo Soares de Albergaria in 1516, before capturing Bahrain in 1521, when a force led by Antonio Correia defeated the Jabrid King, Muqrin ibn Zamil.[32]In a shifting series of alliances, the Portuguese dominated much of the southern Persian Gulf for the next hundred years. With the regular maritime route linking Lisbon to Goa since 1497, the island of Mozambique become a strategic port, and there was built Fort São Sebastião and an hospital. In the Azores, the Islands Armada protected the ships en route to Lisbon. Portuguese eastern trade routes from Lisbon toNagasaki (green), and Spanish Manila galleonroute (gold))(16th–17th centuries) In 1525, after Fernão de Magalhães‘s expedition (1519–1522), Spain under Charles V sent an expedition to colonize the Moluccas islands, claiming that they were in his zone of the Treaty of Tordesillas, since there was not a set limit to the east. García Jofre de Loaísa expedition reached the Moluccas, docking at Tidore. The conflict with the Portuguese already established in nearby Ternate was inevitable, starting nearly a decade of skirmishes. An agreement was reached only with the Treaty of Zaragoza (1529), attributing the Moluccas to Portugal and the Philippines to Spain. In 1534 Gujarat was occupied by the Mughals and the Sultan Bahadur Shah of Gujarat was forced to sign the Treaty of Bassein (1534)with the Portuguese, establishing an alliance to regain the country, giving in exchange Daman, Diu, Mumbai and Bassein.[33] In 1538 the fortress of Diu is again surrounded by Ottoman ships. Another siege failed in 1547 putting an end to the Ottoman ambitions, confirming the Portuguese hegemony. In 1542 Jesuit missionary Francis Xavier arrived in Goa at the service of King John III of Portugal, in charge of an Apostolic Nunciature. At the same time Francisco Zeimoto and other traders arrived in Japan for the first time. According to Fernão Mendes Pinto, who claimed to be in this journey, they arrived atTanegashima, where the locals were impressed by firearms, that would be immediately made by the Japanese on a large scale.[34] The Portuguese explorer Simão de Andrade started bad relations with China, due to his pirate activities, raiding Chinese shipping, attacking a Chinese official and kidnappings of Chinese. He based himself at Tamao island in a fort. The Chinese claimed that Simão kidnapped Chinese boys and girls to be molested and cannibalized. As a result, the Chinese posted an edict banning men with caucasian features from entering Canton. The Chinese responded by killing multiple Portuguese in Canton and drove the Portuguese back to sea. After the Sultan of Bintan detained several Portuguese under Tomás Pires, the Chinese then executed 23 Portuguese and threw the rest into prison where they resided in squalid, sometimes fatal conditions. The Chinese then massacred Portuguese who resided at Ningbo and Fujian trading posts in 1545 and 1549, due to extensive and damaging raids by the Portuguese along the coast, which irritated the Chinese. As Portugal increased its presence along China’s coast, they began trading in slaves. Many Chinese slaves were sold to Portugal. Since the 16th century Chinese slaves existed in Portugal, most of them were Chinese children and a large amount were shipped to the Indies. Chinese prisoners were sent to Portugal, where they were sold as slaves, they were prized and regarded better than moorish and black slaves.The first known visit of a Chinese person to Europe dates to 1540, when a Chinese scholar, enslaved during one of several Portuguese raids somewhere on the southern China coast, was brought to Portugal. Purchased by João de Barros, he worked with the Portuguese historian on translating Chinese texts into Portuguese.

• Spanish-The Spanish Empire (Spanish: Imperio Español) comprised territories and colonies administered directly by Spain in Europe, in America, Africa, Asia and Oceania. It originated during the Age of Exploration and was therefore one of the first global empires. At the time ofHabsburgs, Spain reached the peak of its world power. being the foremost global power. Its establishment in the 15th century ushered in the modern global era and five centuries of European dominance of global affairs. Spain’s reach beyond Europe spanned six centuries, from the first voyages to the Americas in 1492 until the independence of its last African colonies in the 1970s. After the War of the Castilian Succession (1475–1479), Spain had emerged with a personally unified monarchy, with the marriage of theCatholic Monarchs or los Reyes Catolicos between the Queen of Castile and the King of Aragon: the internal and foreign policy was coordinated although the rule was separate. In 1492, the Spanish monarchs completed the Reconquista with the incorporation of Granada to the Kingdom of Castile. That same year Christopher Columbus commanded the first Spanish exploratory voyage west across the Atlantic Ocean, leading to the Discovery of America and Europe’s eventual colonial engagement in the New World. The Americas thereby became the focus of Spanish exploration and colonization. In the 16th century, Spain settled the Greater Antilles in the Caribbean, and took over large areas on mainland North and South America overrunning the Aztecs and Incas. The Spanish expedition of world circumnavigation started by Ferdinand Magellan in 1519, and completed by Juan Sebastian Elcano in 1522, achieved what Columbus had longed for, a westward route to Asia and the sought-after Spice Islands. In 1565 navigator Miguel Lopez de Legazpi arrived in Guam and the Philippine Islands establishing the Spanish East Indies. In addition to the overseas empire in America and Oceania, the Spanish Monarchy controlled several European territories (the Low Countries, the greater part of Italy, and some parts of modern France and Germany), and a number of coastal strongholds in Africa. By the 17th century, Spain controlled an empire on a scale and world distribution that had never been approached by its predecessors. Spain’s European possessions were given up at the conclusion of the War of the Spanish Succession in 1713, but Spain retained its vast overseas empire. In 1741, a massive victory over Britain at the Battle of Cartagena de Indias in modern day Colombia prolonged Spain’s hegemony in the Americas until the 19th century. During the late 18th century, Spanish expeditions to the Pacific Northwest reached Canada and Alaska, resulting in a settlement on Vancouver Island and the discovery of several archipelagos and glaciers. The French occupation of Spain in 1808 under Napoleon cut off its American colonies temporarily, and a number of independence movements between 1810 and 1825 resulted in a chain of newly independent Spanish American republics in South and Central America. The remainder of Spain’s then-four hundred year empire, namely Cuba, Puerto Rico, and the Spanish East Indies, continued under Spanish control until the end of the 19th century, when most of these territories were annexed by the United States after the Spanish-American War. Spain sold its remaining Pacific islands to Germany in 1899. Therefore, at the turn of the 20th century, Spain only held territories in Africa, namely Spanish Guinea, Spanish Sahara andSpanish Morocco, obtained during the Scramble for Africa, but they were relinquished from the mid 20th century due to the Decolonization of Africa

• Dutch-The territories that would later form the Dutch Republic were originally part of a loose federation known as the Seventeen Provinces, which Charles V,Holy Roman Emperor and King of Spain had inherited and brought under his direct rule in 1543. In 1567, a Protestant revolt broke out against rule by Roman Catholic Spain, sparking the Eighty Years War. Led by William of Orange, independence was declared in the 1581 Act of Abjuration. The revolt resulted in the establishment of an independent Protestant republic in the north, although Spain did not officially recognize Dutch independence until 1648. The coastal provinces of Holland and Zeeland had for a long time prior to Spanish rule been important hubs of the European maritime trade network. Their geographical location provided convenient access to the markets of France, Germany, England and the Baltic. The war with Spain led many financiers and traders to emigrate from Antwerp a major city in Flanders and then one of Europe’s most important commercial centres, to Dutch cities, particularly Amsterdam, which became Europe’s foremost centre for shipping, banking, and insurance. Efficient access to capital enabled the Dutch in the 1580s to extend their trade networks beyond northern Europe to new markets in the Mediterranean and the Levant. In the 1590s, Dutch ships began to trade with Brazil and the Dutch Gold Coast of Africa, and towards the Indian Ocean and the source of the lucrative spice trade. This brought the Dutch into direct competition with Portugal, which had dominated these trade networks for several decades, and had established colonial outposts on the coasts of Brazil, Africa and the Indian Ocean to facilitate them. The rivalry with Portugal, however, was not entirely economic: from 1580, after the battle of Ksar El Kebir, the Portuguese crown had been joined to that of Spain in an “Iberian Union” under Philip II of Spain. By attacking Portuguese overseas possessions, the Dutch forced Spain to divert financial and military resources away from its attempt to quell Dutch independence. Thus began the several decade-long Dutch-Portuguese War. In 1594, the “Compagnie van Verre” (Company of Far Lands) was founded in Amsterdam, with the aim of sending two fleets to the spice islands ofMaluku. The first fleet sailed in 1596 and returned in 1597 with a cargo of pepper, which more than covered the costs of the voyage. The second voyage (1598–1599), returned its investors a 400% profit. The success of these voyages led to the founding of a number of companies competing for the trade. The competition was counterproductive to the companies’ interests as it threatened to drive up the price of spices at their source in Indonesia whilst driving them down in Europe.

• French-The French Empire (French: Empire Français), also known as the Greater French Empire, First French Empire, orNapoleonic Empire, was the empire of Napoleon I of France. It was the dominant power of much of continental Europe during the early 19th century. Napoleon became Emperor of the French on 18 May 1804 and crowned Emperor on 2 December 1804, ending the period of the French Consulate, and won early military victories in the War of the Third Coalition against Austria, Prussia, Russia, Portugal, and allied nations, notably at the Battle of Austerlitz (1805) and the Battle of Friedland (1807). The Treaty of Tilsit in July 1807 ended two years of bloodshed on the European continent. The subsequent series of wars known collectively as the Napoleonic Wars extended French influence over much of Western Europe and into Poland. At its height in 1812, the French Empire had 130 départements, ruled over 44 million subjects, maintained an extensive military presence in Germany, Italy, Spain, and the Duchy of Warsaw, and could count Prussia and Austria as nominal allies. Early French victories exported many ideological features of the French Revolution throughout Europe. Seigneurial dues and seigneurial justice were abolished, aristocratic privileges were eliminated in all places except Poland, and the introduction of theNapoleonic Code throughout the continent increased legal equality, established jury systems, and legalized divorce.Napoleon placed relatives on the thrones of several European countries and granted many noble titles, most of which were not recognized after the empire fell. Historians have estimated the death toll from the Napoleonic Wars to be 6.5 million people, or 15% of the French Empire’s subjects. In particular, French losses in the Peninsular War in Iberia severely weakened the Empire; after victory over the Austrian Empire in the War of the Fifth Coalition (1809) Napoleon deployed over 600,000 troops to attack Russia,in a catastrophic French invasion of that country in 1812. The War of the Sixth Coalition saw the expulsion of French forces from Germany in 1813. Napoleon abdicated in 11 April 1814. The Empire was briefly restored during the Hundred Days period in 1815 until Napoleon’s defeat at the Battle of Waterloo. It was followed by the restored monarchy of the House of Bourbon.

• British-The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the largest empire in history and, for over a century, was the foremost global power. By 1922 the British Empire held sway over about 458 million people, one-fifth of the world’s population at the time, and covered more than 33,700,000 km2 (13,012,000 sq mi), almost a quarter of the Earth’s total land area. As a result, its political, linguistic and cultural legacy is widespread. At the peak of its power, it was often said that “the sun never sets on the British Empire” because its span across the globe ensured that the sun was always shining on at least one of its numerous territories. During the Age of Discovery in the 15th and 16th centuries, Portugal and Spain pioneered European exploration of the globe, and in the process established large overseas empires. Envious of the great wealth these empires bestowed, England, France and the Netherlandsbegan to establish colonies and trade networks of their own in the Americas and Asia. A series of wars in the 17th and 18th centuries with the Netherlands and France left England (and then, following union between England and Scotland in 1707, Great Britain) the dominantcolonial power in North America and India. The loss of the Thirteen Colonies in North America in 1783 after a war of independence deprived Britain of some of its oldest and most populous colonies. British attention soon turned towards Africa, Asia and the Pacific. Following the defeat of Napoleonic France in 1815, Britain enjoyed a century of almost unchallenged dominance, and expanded its imperial holdings across the globe. Increasing degrees of autonomy were granted to its white settler colonies, some of which were reclassified as dominions. The growth of Germany and the United States had eroded Britain’s economic lead by the end of the 19th century. Subsequent military and economic tensions between Britain and Germany were major causes of the First World War, during which Britain relied heavily upon its empire. The conflict placed enormous financial strain on Britain, and although the empire achieved its largest territorial extent immediately after the war, it was no longer a peerless industrial or military power. The Second World War saw Britain’s colonies in South-East Asia occupied by Japan, which damaged British prestige and accelerated the decline of the empire, despite the eventual victory of Britain and its allies. India, Britain’s most valuable and populous possession, was given independence two years after the end of the war.After the end of the Second World War, as part of a larger decolonisation movement by European powers, most of the territories of the British Empire were granted independence, ending with the handover of Hong Kong to China in 1997. 14 territories remain under British sovereignty, the British Overseas Territories. After independence, many former British colonies joined the Commonwealth of Nations, a free association of independent states. 16 Commonwealth nations share their head of state, Queen Elizabeth II, as Commonwealth realms.

misc:

• Astrolabe- a tool used to make atronomical measurments; allowed for assistance in navigation using the stars and finding longitude and latitudinal coordinates

• Revised maps- a diagrammatic representation of an area of land or ocean; shows not only the land formation but also man made things such as roads and cars

• Caravels- 15-17th century ship (usually Portugese and/or Spanish fleeting ship)

Potatoes- boosts population due to immense nutritional value; traded in the Colombian Exchange

• M