New Empires and Common Culture, 6001000

1
New Empires and Common Culture, 600-1000

• Another shrinking of the Afro Eurasian World
• A new Universal Religion
• Renewed multicultural empires in Eastern and
  Western Eurasia
• A revolution in agriculture across Eurasia
• Intensification of cross cultural interactions

2
Agricultural innovations and diffusion

• The emergence of the Tang Dynasty in the East,
  and an Islamic Empire between Buddhist, Hindu,
  and Christian worlds catalyzed the spread of
  crops and agricultural techniques throughout Afro
  Eurasia
• South, Southeast Asian, and sub-Saharan African
  domesticated plants to China, Southwest Asia, and
  the Mediterranean World
• See Maps

Sorghum, cotton, watermelon
rice, taro, sour oranges, lemons, limes, coconut
palm trees, sugarcane, bananas, plantains,
mangoes
3
Agricultural innovations and diffusion

• New crops increased farmers productivity
• Political consolidation ushered in improved
  irrigation and water and road transportation
• Populations increased, but particularly urban
  populations
• Increased urban populations induced greater
  economic and cultural interaction between them
  across Afro Eurasia.
• The impact of this shrinking was felt most in
  East Asia and the new emerging Islamic World

4
The Origins and Spread of Islam The Arabian
World

• Arabian Peninsula in 600 C.E. was strongly
  influenced by Byzantine and Sassanian Empires
  Christian, Jewish, and Zoroastrian communities
• Arab speakers dominate much of the peninsula
• - Settled Communities along the Coasts
• - Nomadic Groups in the Interior
• - Trade connections with Byzantines,
• Sassanid's, East Africa, India
• Caravan Cities
• Mecca, Medina
• Polytheistic Religion
• Mecca as a Pilgrimage Site

5
The Origins and Spread of Islam Muhammad (570?
632)

• Islam - the will of God
• Muslim - one who submits
• Muhammad as Gods Final Prophet
• The Hijra to Medina
• Formation of the Umma in Medina
• (Umma -Community of Believers beyond and
  supplanting tribal and clannish loyalties)

6
The Origins and Spread of Islam Conquests and
Empire (632-661)

• Caliphs and Caliphates
• Conquests of much of Byzantine Empire, all of
  Sassanian Territory
• How did Arab armies do this so quickly? (Quiz
  question??)
• See Maps

7
Arab led Caliphates (Empires)

• Umayyad Caliphate, 661-750
• Codification of the faith
• Five Pillars of Islam
• Declaration of Faith
• Pray Five Times a Day
• Fast during Ramadan
• Alms for widows, orphans, poor
• Pilgrimage to Mecca (Haj)
• Jihad?
• About 20 of the caliphate was Muslim in 750

8
The Abbasid Caliphate, 750-1200s

• Becoming more cosmopolitan, less Arab
• Baghdad as cultural and political center
• Embracing non Arab Muslim converts
• Promoting Hellenistic and Persian learning

9
Becoming universal

• Abbasid Caliphs portrayed themselves as absolute
  rulers, but eventually governed in a very
  decentralized manner. During their reign, Islam
  became very cosmopolitan, reflecting the
  contributions of cultural diverse constituents
• Common rallying points for all Muslim communities
• - The Caliph (Abbasid caliph absorb Persian and
  Byzantine practices)
• (political and spiritual head not a prophet)
• (the Ulama as spiritual authorities)
• - More ethnically diverse armies uniting
  diverse peoples
• (Turkish, Berbers, African soldiers from
  peripheries of the empire)
• - Islamic Law (Sharia)
• (developed by the ulama, not the caliph)
• - Creating new gender roles
• (establishing patriarchy like Romans and
  Persians before them - but sustaining wider role
  for women that existed among pre Islamic Arab
  culture)

10
Becoming Universal

• Written Texts
• Quran - The Prophets Revelations
• Hadith - The words and deeds of the Prophet

11
Cultural Flowering in the early Abbasid Centuries

• Arabic superseded Greek as the worlds most
  widely used language in poetry, literature,
  medicine, science, and philosophy.
• Incorporating and building on Hellenistic and
  Roman scholarship
• The acts of borrowing, translating, storing, and
  diffusing written works helped bring worlds
  together
• - borrowed and diffused Chinese and Byzantine
  Technology (Paper!)
• - borrowed and diffused Indian (South Asian)
  mathematics (zero, numeral
• system)
• Developed algebra and expanded geometry and
  trigonometry

12
Islam in the wider world

• Abbasid caliphate never ruled over all Islamic
  communities, nor did it ever really control the
  peripheries of the empire
• Islam continued to expand beyond the Caliphate
  a series of dazzling lanterns, each trying to
  outdo the others
• The Umayyad Caliphate in Spain (7th through 11th
  Centuries)
• Cordova
• Central Asia
• from Buddhism to Islam
• Barmaki family Al-Khwarizmi
• Sub-Saharan Africa
• Islamic merchants and adventurers crossed the
  Sahara
• Kingdom of Ghana
• Islamic merchants and local communities on East
  African Coast (Swahili culture)

13
a series of dazzling lanterns
Swahili zone
Kingdom of Ghana
14
Division and Opposition within Islam

• Shiism (appeal to people on peripheries of power
  both geographically and economically)
• Shiites versus Sunnis
• The question of succession (Ali)
• Imans
• Shiites create a rival to Abbasids in Egypt
• Fatimid Caliphate (based in Egypt) in 9th
  Century
• See Maps

15
Dar al Islam in 1000

• By 1000, Islam had become the dominant political
  and cultural force in the middle regions of the
  Afro-Eurasia
• At Afro-Eurasias peripheries, its armies,
  merchants, and scholars had finally run out of
  energy, leaving much of Western Europe and China
  outside the Islamic domain.
• In 1000, Muslims were ceasing to be a minority
  within their own lands. A rapidly increasing rate
  of conversions reduced the Christian, Jewish, and
  other non-Muslim populations living in polities
  ruled by Muslim kings and princes.
• The political unification of the whole Muslim
  world had not followed. Although the Abbasid
  caliphate made claims to universal political
  power, breakaway regimes disputed these claims.
  Powerful separatist Muslim states emerged in
  Spain and North Africa

16
The Tang State in East Asia

• Afro Eurasias other center of power
• Common borders with Islamic World
• Unlike the Caliphates, no strong religious
  foundations
• Under Tang Dynasty, China was both an importer
  and exporter of culture

17
Reunification and Expansion

• Sui Dynasty reunites China, 581-616
• Tang Dynasty, 618-907
• - larger than the caliphates
• - 80 million people
• - most powerful, advanced,
• and best administered empire in the
  world in 750
• World Colliding Battle of Talas, 751
• See Maps

18
Organizing an Empire

• Blending old and new practices
• - Imperial Examination System (written)
• Spiritual Mosaic of Buddhism, Confucianism,
  Daoism
• Confucian political order
• (Confucianism and classic writing as a surrogate
  for a universal religion)
• Eunuchs (a third pillar of government?)

Empress Wu, 626-706, Chinas first Female Emperor
Buddhist Rock Carvings at Luoyang sponsored by
Empress Wu
19
The Tang Economic Revolution

• The Grand Canal and other projects
• Silk Road
• 8th Century Silk Road by Sea
• Glorious Changan
• Tricolor porcelain
• Chinese luxuries dominate internal and external
  markets

20
Dealing with World Religions
Xuanzang

• Confucianism is secular in nature
• Tang Emperors promoted/patronized religious
  diversity
• - Daoism, Buddhism,
• Nestorian Christianity, Manichaeanism,
• Zoroastrianism, Islam
• Buddhism flourishes until 9th Century
• Anti-Buddhist campaigns in 9th Century
• No universal religion dominated China at the
• end of the Tang Dynasty

21
The incredible monastery/entrepot of Dunhuang
22
The emergence of Korea and Japan

• Two states and two cultures strongly influenced
  by Tang China
• Incorporation of Confucianism and Buddhism,
  blended with indigenous culture
• Chinese writing and literature as a model
• Emperors as universal figures

Map, p. 398
23
The Christian West

• Continued invasions and fragmentation
• Charlemagne's failed attempt at political
  unification
• Frankish Kingdom
• Reassertion of warlordism political
  fragmentation
• Growth of slave trade
• Slavs of Eastern Europe
• Serfdom
• See Maps

24
The growth of a distinct Western Church

• Western Europe as a frontier- Christianity
  pulled into a new world
• A church based in Rome
• The spiritual leadership of the Pope
• Latin language and script
• Monasticism (like Buddhism a religion of
  monks)
• A Universal Mission
• (only 25 of Christians lived in Western Europe
  during this era)

25
The Viking Age, 800-1000

• Invasions, looting, and settlement
• Frankish areas, Eastern Europe, North Atlantic
• Long term trade routes established between
  Scandinavia and Constantinople

26
The Orthodox Christian East

• The survival of the Byzantine rump state
• The spread of Orthodox Christianity into Eastern
  Europe
• Two Christian Worlds emerge by 1000

Primary Trade Route
Orthodox Zone
27
Worlds Together, World Apart
Buddhist Worlds, Christian Worlds, Islamic
Worlds, Confucian Worlds Many layers within,
and in between Many overlapping layers 1000 -
a new social geography (major impact of universal
religions)