I N STRUC TO R’ S M A N UA L

Worlds Together,
Worlds Apart
A HISTORY OF THE WORLD FROM THE
BEGINNINGS OF HUMANKIND TO THE PRESENT
SECO N D EDITIO N
I N STRUC TO R’ S M A N UA L

Worlds Together,
Worlds Apart
A HISTORY OF THE WORLD FROM THE
BEGINNINGS OF HUMANKIND TO THE PRESENT
SECO N D EDITIO N

ROBERT TIGNOR ◆ JEREMY ADELMAN ◆ STEPHEN ARON ◆ PETER BROWN ◆

BENJAMIN ELMAN ◆ STEPHEN KOTKIN ◆ XINRU LIU ◆ SUZANNE MARCHAND ◆
HOLLY PITTMAN ◆ GYAN PRAKASH ◆ BRENT SHAW ◆ MICHAEL TSIN

A MY C . H U D N A LL
Appalachian State University

N E VA J E A N SPEC HT
Appalachian State University

JO N ATH A N LE E
San Antonio College

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1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 0
Contents

Introduction vii
Chapter 1 Becoming Human 1
Chapter 2 Rivers, Cities, and First States, 4000–2000 bce 10
Chapter 3 Nomads, Territorial States, and Microsocieties, 2000–1200 bce 25
Chapter 4 First Empires and Common Cultures in Afro-Eurasia, 1200–350 bce 44
Chapter 5 Worlds Turned Inside Out, 1000–350 bce 58
Chapter 6 Shrinking the Afro-Eurasian World, 350 bce–250 ce 70
Chapter 7 Han Dynasty China and Imperial Rome, 300 bce–300 ce 82
Chapter 8 The Rise of Universal Religions, 300–600 ce 89
Chapter 9 New Empires and Common Cultures, 600–1000 ce 96
Chapter 10 Becoming “The World,” 1000–1300 ce 111
Chapter 11 Crises and Recovery in Afro-Eurasia, 1300s–1500s 126
Chapter 12 Contact, Commerce, and Colonization, 1450s–1600 133
Chapter 13 Worlds Entangled, 1600–1750 143
Chapter 14 Cultures of Splendor and Power, 1500–1780 155
Chapter 15 Reordering the World, 1750–1850 166
Chapter 16 Alternative Visions of the Nineteenth Century 179
Chapter 17 Nations and Empires, 1850–1914 189
Chapter 18 An Unsettled World, 1890–1914 200
Chapter 19 Of Masses and Visions of the Modern, 1910–1939 213
Chapter 20 The Three-World Order, 1940–1975 228
Chapter 21 Globalization, 1970–2000 244
Epilogue 2001–The Present 256

v
Introduction
Th is Instructor’s Manual can be used in two ways: as dis-
crete parts when you need a quick resource or suggestion,
or as a pedagogical tool that helps you put into practice a
theory of active learning (whole-body learning) over the
semester. If you apply pieces of the theory, you may add to
it so that it is refi ned to fit your style. You will likely fi nd
that whole-body learning is especially useful for this type
of survey course, in which broad sweeps of detail have to
be covered. The best you can hope for is that your students
retain some of the detail; that you expose them to the lan-
guage and events of the time; and that you help them de-
velop skills and tools of analysis. All of the sections in this
guide will support you in accomplishing these goals.
Each chapter is broken into six sections: a Lecture
Outline, Lecture Ideas, Class Activities, Recommended
Books, Films, and Web Sites. The Outline presents a list
of key points, an overview of the chapter, its goals, and
its subtexts. Additionally, it provides a quick reference
for key words, events, and chronologies. These refer-
ences become especially important, since the book is
set up thematically, not chronologically. Often the peri-
ods overlap, so if you normally use dates as a reference
guide, the outline can serve as a handy way to gather fu-
ture details. Class Activities are interactive to reinforce
or introduce major themes and events. (The concept be-
hind the use of interactive learning will be discussed in
the next section.) Some of these activities need advance
preparation, but once you have created the sequence it
is available for future use, just as a lecture would be. The
Lecture Ideas provide a series of areas or topics that war-
rant further investigation in a lecture. You will fi nd that
some of them specifically address chapter themes; others
focus on book themes, and still others suggest areas that
students will fi nd of interest and relevance. The Books
section lists books that detail chapter themes, lecture
themes, and significant events cited in the chapter. In ad-
dition, in some of the chapters, books are cited that have
been found to work particularly well as student readings.
These are listed in a separate section; they include his-
torical fiction and primary sources. The Film and Web
Site sections provide brief annotations considering what
would be useful for you as a teacher and as a resource to
your students. When it is feasible in the fi lm section, we
list particular scenes that are useful or methods of using
the fi lm that have proven valuable.
WHOLE-BODY LEARNING
We agreed to write this Instructor’s Manual because we
saw it as an opportunity to share our theories on experi-
ential learning. Traditional, lecture-based classes on his-
tory did not meet our teaching goals, which were to allow
students to understand history’s relevance to present-day
issues, to instill and further a passion for learning, and to
enhance students’ methodological and ethical skills of
historical research and writing. In the past few years, we
have been pained by a growing lack of curiosity in our stu-
dents. Th is is something we are trying to reignite. We are
experiential learners. In other words, we learn by doing.
Our successes and failures with experiential learning, or
what we call “whole-body learning,” make up the evolu-
tion of this process. It is by no means a complete and per-
fected idea, but something we are still refi ning.
To achieve the goals expected in a college sett ing while
applying whole-body learning, four elements must be
present:
1. You should only pepper your schedule with so-called
experiential learning activities. Th is helps you main-
tain a reasonable workload and enhances the variety
of learning methods available to students. In this
guide, we have used various forms of material culture,
narrative, and oral history to accomplish this goal.
2. Consider your students’ natural typology of learning
and set up grading requirements and teaching meth-
odologies so that students have opportunities for suc-
cess and failure within each typology. Failure serves
as a motivator, create new learning situations by iden-
tifying for the student a knowledge gap and the need
to fi ll it (Brandsford et al., 2000; Piaget, 1983).
3. Create a thread through the experiential activities
that continually links them back to your lectures and
discussions, and that follows through to the last day of
class. Th is Instructor’s Manual allows you to do this.
4. Although it is not absolutely necessary to do so to
gain the most for students and yourself, it helps to
vii
viii ◆ Introduction
assist students in gaining a sense of ownership in the
success of the class. By sharing the responsibility for
the class’s success among all participants, you cre-
ate a much more demanding role for each individual.
When this fi nal goal is accomplished, the rewards for
students are nothing short of remarkable.
Applying whole-body learning requires careful plan-
ning and structure. You can add hands-on assignments
randomly, but full educational value is only garnered
when you intentionally plan and integrate activities into
the course over the whole semester. Some professors
criticize this approach as being too chaotic for a learn-
ing environment, but we believe a lack of order indicates
poor preparation and classroom management. Although
you should expect some chaos as you begin to implement
these types of experiences in the classroom, remember
that whole-body learning does require a new set of teach-
ing skills. Be patient; it will take trial and error.
Now let’s consider the actual process of whole-body
learning for a moment. We considered the learning mod-
els that are available in pedagogy and leadership, but
found none that worked well with the time frames of an
average college class or a semester format. Kolb’s and Out-
ward Bound’s models were the most functional, but they
still did not meet our needs. Thus, we devised a modified
three-stage model linking the lectures to class activities
and the theme that joins the class together over time. Our
model integrates (a) experience, (b) reflection, and (c) re-
sidual reflection and learning (Fig. 1).
Residual Reflection
Experience Reflection
and Learning
We have found that at a macro level, neglecting one of
these stages can be a major obstacle to deep learning,
which in this context is retention of material after the se-
mester has ended. Although shaping a class to this style
may seem impossible given the enormous class loads
we are all under, we have found it to be viable if applied
thoughtfully, with advanced planning, and implemented
over several semesters. Recognize that it may take sev-
eral semesters to work through and implement your fi nal
version of whole-body learning in a course. Use the sug-
gestions in this Instructor’s Manual as a starting point to-
ward accomplishing your goal.
SEMESTER-LONG THEMES
You can use many of the class activities listed in this In-
structor’s Manual at different times, or you can repeat
the format. They provide you with the backbone of your
class theme. For example, the transformation of writing
mentioned in chapters 2 (cuneiform and hieroglyphics),
8 (Chinese script), and 9 (futhark) provides an important
center around which to discuss the significance of literacy,
texts, oral history, the development of history, and myriad
other themes over time. The experiential-activity thread
allows you to draw the students along, reminding them of
past experiences and weaving in new ideas, each new idea
enriching their understanding. Students can physically
attempt the writing styles of the Aztecs and of illuminated
manuscripts to fi nish out the connections. They experi-
ence one of the necessary strands for a tapestry of textual
change. They become more interested in a discussion
about the relevance of texts in history. You have helped
them weave their experiences into a new pattern. You can
do the same with activities involving art, music, architec-
ture, games, food, money, trading, or soothsaying. These
are just a few instances of thematic opportunities.
For other ideas on sett ing up world civilization courses,
you might consider looking at the following books or Web
sites. The texts offer alternative teaching methods. The
Web sites offer sources of teaching materials and images.
◆ Jacques-Edouard Berger Foundation. World Art
Treasures. Available at www.bergerfoundation.ch/
page8.html
◆ Richard Hooker. World Civilizations: An Internet
Classroom and Anthology. Available at www.wsu.
edu:8080/~dee/
◆ Ron Pahl, 2002. Breaking Away from the Textbook:
Creative Ways to World History (3 vols.).
◆ World Lecture Hall. Available at web.austin.utexas.
edu/wlh/index.cfm
USING FILM IN THE CLASSROOM
You will fi nd detailed fi lm summaries in the Film section
at the end of each chapter. Often they suggest particular
scenes and link them with activities and lectures in the
same chapter. We hope that these tools will be useful.
Films are becoming more and more en vogue now that
the History Channel, the Discovery Channel, Arts & En-
tertainment, and a plethora of other cable channels are all
competing with each other for a market share of the his-
tory buffs. Too often the fi lms are rife with errors or sim-
plistic conclusions. We considered the fi lms listed here for
their appeal to students, the quality of their information,
their teachability, length, and your ability to break them
up into useable segments. When you use a fi lm for teach-
ing, it is often best to use it to capture a mood or provide
an image of the past rather than as a source for specific
historical accuracy. If you approach the fi lm with that in
mind and augment a clip with specific details or questions,
 Introduction ◆ ix

you will strengthen students’ understanding of that his- References

torical moment. Help students analyze points about when
Brandsford, J., et al. 2000. How People Learn.
the fi lm was made and who made it; help them to garner
Piaget, J., 1987. Possibility and Necessity.
details about the context of historical events. But remem-
ber that much of your students’ reaction will be based on
emotion, which can be as important as their intellectual Acknowledgments
responses. Remember that there is no right or wrong re-
We would both like to thank our editors, Matt hew Ar-
sponse. The best outcome in showing fi lms is honest, fluid
nold and Jon Durbin, for their confidence in our ability
feedback that encompasses your students’ experiences
to contribute to this worthy project. It has stimulated
and perceptions.
much thought for us both about future work. Leslie
For further study on the analysis and use of fi lm in the
White, a graduate assistant at Appalachian State Univer-
classroom consider the following sources:
sity, helped tremendously by relieving us of many daily
Roy Armes, 1987. Third World Film Making and the West. pressures so that we could meet deadlines. And perhaps
Marcia Landy, ed., 2001. The Historical Film: History and most important, we thank our families and especially our
Memory in Media. children, Nelson and Megan. It just wouldn’t be worth it
Robert A. Rosenstone, ed., 1995. Revisioning History: without them!
Film and the Construction of a New Past.
Robert A. Rosenstone, 1995. Visions of the Past: The
Challenge of Film to Our Idea of History.
I N STRUC TO R’ S M A N UA L

Worlds Together,
Worlds Apart
A HISTORY OF THE WORLD FROM THE
BEGINNINGS OF HUMANKIND TO THE PRESENT
SECO N D EDITIO N
CH A PTER 1
Becoming Human
▶ Out of Africa: Theory and Debate
▶ Precursors to Modern Humans
Universal Creation Stories vs. Recent Scientific
Discoveries
Evolutionary Findings and Research Methods
Early Hominids and Adaptation
The First Humans: Homo Habilis
Early Humans on the Move: Migration of Homo
Erectus
▶ The First Modern Humans
Homo Sapiens: “Human” Species Develop between
120,000 and 50,000 Years Ago
Homo Sapiens and Their Migration
Cro-Magnon Homo Sapiens Replace Neanderthals
Early Homo Sapiens as Hunters and Gatherers
▶ Art and Language
Art
Language
LECTURE OUTLINE
Th is chapter offers an overview of the evolution of hu-
mans, beginning with their common origins in Africa.
It begins by discussing the debates on the origins of hu-
mans and the research techniques used to support cur-
rent scholarship. After information about early hominids
and their adaptation, we learn about the competition be-
tween Cro-Magnon humans and Neanderthals. Complex
thinking aids in the creation of art and language for Homo
sapiens, helping them emerge as the sole surviving hom-
inids. They begin to spread out across the globe, crossing
the land bridge from Asia to North America. When the
climate warms, those in the Americas are cut off from
Afro-Eurasia. Further environmental changes lead to the
domestication of plants and animals. Southwest Asia, East
Asia, the Americas, and Sahel Africa are incubators for
sett led farming communities, whether in grains or fish.
▶ The Beginnings of Food Production
Humans Begin to Cultivate Wild Grasses and
Cereals and Domesticate Animals
Early Domestication of Plants and Animals
Southwest Asia: The Revolution Begins
▶ Emergence of Agriculture in Other Areas
Similar Agricultural Revolutions Occurred All Over
the World
Rice and Water in East Asia
Spread of Agriculture to Europe
Agriculture in the Americas
Africa: The Race with the Sahara
▶ Revolutions in Social Organization
Village Growth Led to Specialization and
Stratification
Early Sett lement in Villages
Men, Women, and the Growth of Drudgery
That change does not come evenly or completely. Many
peoples continue to hunt and gather or follow herds of an-
imals. Communities that do sett le begin to specialize and
stratify. Gender differences arise and patriarchy emerges.
As the sett led communities continue to advance, they are
poised to create the complex civilizations that the next
chapter reveals.
I. Out of Africa: Theory and Debate
A. Common African heritage
B. Modern human exodus only 100,000 years ago
C. Differences are mostly cultural
II. Precursors to Modern Humans
A. Universal creation stories vs. recent scientific
discoveries
1. Yoruba peoples’ creation story
2. Buddhists’ creation story
1
2 ◆ Chapter 1 Becoming Human
3. Brahmanical Vedas and the Upanishads
creation story
4. Chinese Han dynasty creation story
B. Evolutionary fi ndings and research methods
1. Universe 15 billion years old
2. Earth 4.5 billion years old
3. African apes 23 million years ago
a. Gorillas
b. Chimpanzees
c. Hominids
4. Hominid traits began to set them apart
a. Bipedalism
b. Ability to carry objects and use weapons
c. Ability to control and make fi re
d. Design and use of tools
e. Development of larger brain
f. Language
g. Self-awareness
5. Hominid traits fully in place 50,000 years
ago
6. 12,000 bce marks big advance to sedentary
villages
C. Early hominids and adaptation
1. Discovery of Australopithecus africanus in
South Africa
a. Six distinct species
b. Not humans
2. “Lucy” discovered in northern Africa
3. To survive, hominids had to adapt and
evolve
4. Many early hominids died out
5. No direct genetic line to modern men and
women
6. Bipedalism as great advantage
a. Carrying food and weapons
b. Migration out of hostile areas
7. Reasons for walking on two legs
a. Environmental change
8. Advantages of bipedalism
a. Increased options for subsistence
b. Increased cognitive skills
c. Allowed tool making
9. Opposable thumbs
a. Increased physical dexterity
10. Increased cognition and skill made
hominids excel over other primates
11. Lived in highly social groups
a. Bands of 25–500
b. Hunted and gathered food
c. Developed early communication
12. Adapted physically and cognitively over
time to changing environment
a. Physical changes
i. Brains became larger
ii. Foreheads more elongated
iii. Less-massive jaw
iv. Looked more modern
b. Cognitive changes
i. Ability to store and analyze
information
ii. Form mental maps
iii. Learn, remember, and convey
information
13. Natural selection an advantage to those
hominids with larger brains
a. Examples in Ethiopia and Kenya
b. Diversity among early hominids
D. The fi rst humans: Homo habilis
1. Climate change in Africa led to adaptation
by hominids
a. First appearance of Homo (true human)
i. Large brains
ii. Systematic and large-scale tool use
2. Olduvai Gorge, Tanzania
a. Louis and Mary Leakey
b. Intact skull of “Dear Boy”
c. Fashioning cutt ing and scooping tools
d. Passing on knowledge to offspring
e. Homo habilis (“skillful man”)
E. Early humans on the move: Migration of Homo
erectus
1. Only hominid survivor was Homo erectus
(“standing man”)
2. Traits that contributed to survival
a. Extended periods of caring for young
i. Gave infant brain time to grow
ii. Time for training by adults
iii. “Allomothering” (other
mothering)
b. Smooth gait allowed long-distance
travel
c. Early attempts to control environment
i. Tools
ii. Fire
d. Fire
i. Heat, protection, and gathering
point
ii. Cooking allowed expanding diets
iii. Powerful symbol of human control
of energy
3. Hominids migrated out of Africa 1.5
million years ago
a. Southwest Asia
b. Indian Ocean shoreline

c. Indian subcontinent
d. Southeast Asia
e. China
4. Migration caused by huge environmental
changes
a. Ice ages in Northern Hemisphere
b. Land bridges formed between
landmasses
5. Widespread migration of Homo erectus
a. Java Man discovery (1891)
b. Peking Man (early twentieth century)
discovery
6. Human evolution featured both
progression and retrogression
a. Climate change altered speciation
(species formation)
b. Several species could exist at same
time
c. Homo erectus not direct ancestors of
Homo sapiens
III. The First Modern Humans
A. Homo Sapiens: “Human” species develop
between 120,000 and 50,000 years ago
1. Took millions of years to evolve
2. Complex linguistic expression (language)
last to develop
B. Homo sapiens and their migration
1. Climate change led to smaller mammals’
survival
a. Agility and speed
b. Homo sapiens better adapted to change
than Homo erectus
2. Followed earlier migration patterns out of
Africa
a. Th rived in many areas
b. Developed distinct regional cultures
3. China’s Shandingdong Man from 18,000
years ago
a. Looked more like modern humans
b. Similar brain size to modern humans
c. Tools included bone needle
d. Buried their dead
4. Homo sapiens in eastern Asia
a. Followed herds of large mammals such
as mastodons
b. Crossed ice bridge to Japan
5. 18,000 bce: Crossed land bridge Beringia
to North America
a. Broken mammoth site in Alaska
6. 8,000 bce: Migrations by boat to North
America
Chapter 1 Becoming Human ◆ 3
a. Land bridge melted
b. Americas cut off from rest of world
C. Cro-Magnon Homo sapiens replace
Neanderthals
1. Neanderthals, early wave of hominids,
sett led in Afro-Eurasia
2. Not genetically related to modern Homo
sapiens
3. Skull found in Neander Valley, 1856
4. Brain larger than modern human brain but
not as complex
5. Carleton Coon thesis (1940s) argued that
the races developed separately
a. Multiregional thesis
b. Disproven
6. Cro-Magnon better adapted than
Neanderthals to environmental changes
a. Neanderthals’ speech limited
b. Physical characteristics made
Neanderthals less agile
c. Cro-Magnon able to adapt
D. Early Homo sapiens as hunters and gatherers
1. Hunting and gathering until 12,000 bce
2. San hunters of South Africa present-day
hunters and gatherers
3. Hunting and gathering culture
a. Enough food found in 3 hours
b. Time for relaxation
c. Highly egalitarian between sexes
d. Women may have enjoyed higher status
IV. Art and Language
A. Art
1. Homo sapiens drawings
a. Helped them understand environment
b. Bonded tightly among their kin groups
c. Established important mythology
d. Vivid and realistic in depicting large
game animals
e. Few depictions of humans
f. Handprints and abstract symbols
2. Meaning of drawings
a. Decoration theory discounted
b. Separated themselves from nature
c. Work of shamans for ritual use
3. Sculptures
a. Shaped from bone and stone tools
4. Animal paintings symbolic of male or
female
B. Language
1. Evolutionary milestone
a. Enhanced ability to communicate
4 ◆ Chapter 1 Becoming Human
b. Allowed for bodies of knowledge to be
transmitted
2. Phonemes
a. Humans can create sequences of words
b. Complex language occurred 50,000
years ago
c. !Kung of Southern Africa and Hadza of
Tanzania offer contemporary examples
of protolanguage
V. The Beginnings of Food Production
A. Humans begin to cultivate wild grasses and
cereals and domesticate animals
1. Southwest Asia
2. China
3. Southeast Asia
4. Mesoamerica
5. Northeastern America
6. Other possible sites: East Africa, inland
West Africa, southeastern Europe, South
America
B. Early domestication of plants and animals
1. Gradual change from hunting and
gathering to agriculture
a. Climatic changes led to sett led life
b. Valleys and mountains of Southwest
Asia fi rst permanent sett lements
2. Plant domestication
a. Experiments began with domesticating
plants
b. Larger communities supported with
more food
3. Animal domestication
a. Began in Zagros Mountains
b. Sheep fi rst domesticated
c. Goats introduced to sheep flocks
d. Herds moved from sett lement to grassy
steppes to graze
e. Pastoralism alternative to sett led
farming
f. Pigs and catt le also domesticated
4. Pastoralists vs. agriculturalists
a. Pastoralists on the steppe lands
b. Agriculturalists from arable zones
c. Pastoralists important in world history
i. Domesticated horses
ii. Developed weapons and
techniques
iii. Transmitted ideas, products, and
people across long distances
iv. Connected east and west
v. Horses most important
animal and became measure
of household wealth and
prestige
C. Southwest Asia: The revolution begins
1. Agricultural revolution occurred in
Southwest Asia
2. Fertile Crescent place of rich soils and
regular rainfall
3. Four large mammals domesticated (goats,
sheep, pigs, catt le)
4. Horses came to the area from steppes
5. Climate change led to more plants in the
area
6. 9000 bce: Jordan River valley people
began to domesticate barley and
wheat
a. Selected and stored seeds for later
planting
7. Land between Tigris and Euphrates
remained in small communities
a. Before 5500 bce, flood and drought
prevented agricultural advances in the
area
b. Competition from other areas would
eventually lead to early attempts to
control river
VI. Emergence of Agriculture in Other Areas
A. Similar agricultural revolutions occurred all
over the world
1. Internally generated or borrowed
technology
2. Regional variations because of climate,
geography, and preexisting social
organizations
B. Rice and water in East Asia
1. Melting glaciers in 13,000 bce led to
environmental changes
2. Japanese islands formed
a. Large animals became extinct
b. Began to cultivate crops
3. River basins and lakes formed in Asia
4. Yellow and Yangzi River valleys became
heavily populated
5. Rice domesticated by 6500 bce; millet by
5500 bce
6. Grain, tools, and technical knowledge
spread throughout East Asia
7. Pottery making for storage and polished
stone axes for clearing fields

8. Regional agricultural differences affected
cultures and aesthetics of the people in
those regions
C. Spread of agriculture to Europe
1. Domestication ideas came from other areas
and spread quickly
2. Greece and the Balkans fi rst converted
from hunters and gatherers
3. Agriculture and village life in Europe
developed in two areas
a. Northern rim of the Mediterranean Sea
b. Greece, the Balkans, and along Danube
and Rhine River valleys
4. Ideas spread by water and overland
5. Needed to fi nd crops and animals that
could adapt to new climates
a. Main crops: Wheat and barley
b. Main herded animals: sheep, goats, and
catt le
c. Later plants included olives and grape-
producing vines
6. Material progress changed litt le
a. Sett lements of 12 to 70 huts
b. Timber and mud “long houses”
c. Hunting and gathering supplemented
agriculture
d. Blend of old and new ways
e. Geography determined where changes
occurred
f. Population rises in sett led communities
D. Agriculture in the Americas
1. Flora and fauna different in the Americas
than in Afro-Eurasia
2. Used chipped blades and pointed spears in
hunting
3. Clovis people scattered throughout North
America
4. Large prey became increasingly vulnerable
because of environmental changes that
affected the food supply
5. Ecological niches generated a variety of
subsistence strategies
6. Most communities blended sett led
agriculture with hunting and gathering
7. Changes to food production happened
more slowly
a. Stone tools in Tehuacan Valley by 6700
bce
b. Plant domestication by 5000 bce
c. Fishing and shellfishing along various
coasts
Chapter 1 Becoming Human ◆ 5
i. Peru example: fishing but no
watercrafts
8. Plant experimentation dates from 7000
bce
a. Maize, squash, and beans
b. Maize not fully domesticated until 2000
bce
9. Change even slower in South America
10. Balanced diet through crops such as
legumes, grains, and tubers
11. Few domesticated animals for alternative
protein source
a. Exception in Andean highlands, where
guinea pigs were raised for food
12. Llamas semidomesticated for clothing and
hauling
13. Change slower in Americas because of
diversity and isolation
E. Africa: The race with the Sahara
1. Sahel area became sett led by farmers and
herders
a. Later Africans from this area carried
techniques to other areas of the
continent
2. Sahel region
a. Lush with grassland vegetation and
many animals
b. Sorghum principal food crop
3. Climate change pushed people out to other
parts of Africa
a. Tropical rain forests of West Africa
i. Root crops such as yams and
cocoyams
b. Ethiopian highlands
i. Enset (bananalike) plant
4. In temperate and wetter climates villages
formed
a. Houses made from stone
b. Underground wells and granary storage
areas
c. Created rock engravings and paintings
i. Hunting and pastoral scenes
ii. Catt le
iii. Daily activities of men and women
d. Warming and drying of earth’s climate
pushed inhabitants toward inland water
5. Sett led agriculture included collecting
aquatic life
a. Theory that Lake Chad inhabitants
began Africa’s agricultural revolution
b. Fish harvests
6 ◆ Chapter 1 Becoming Human
i. Expand population
ii. Establish substantial villages
iii. Create cultural rituals such as
burial ceremonies
c. Litt le of those early communities
remains because of climate change that
dried up much of the lake
VII. Revolutions in Social Organization
A. Village growth led to specialization and
stratification
B. Early sett lement in villages
1. Dwellings changed from circular to
rectangular
2. Population growth led to increased use of
resources
3. Specialized tasks evolved
a. Procuring and preparing food
b. Building terraces
c. Defending the sett lement
4. Rectangular building shape evolved
a. Easier to build walls for separation
5. Early sett lements that made transition to
sett led agriculture
a. Wadi en-Natuf (near Jerusalem) 12,500
bce
b. Eastern Anatolia
c. Çatalhöyük in central Anatolia
i. Decorated human-made dwellings
with art and imagery
6. Mesopotamian inhabitants created simple
irrigation systems
a. Community becomes stratified
b. Burial sites reflect power status
c. High status from birth, not through
merit or work
7. Population increase led to larger
concentrations of people into early towns
a. Not all who lived in towns produced
food
b. Surpluses of food available
C. Men, women, and the growth of drudgery
1. Biological-based differences between men
and women
a. Women give birth to offspring, men do
not
b. Biology determined female and male
actions toward each other
2. Gender (social and culture differences)
appear only with Homo sapiens
3. Need language and complex thinking to
develop true gender categories of man and
woman
4. Gender roles more pronounced with food-
producing revolution
a. Gender equality erodes as communities
abandon hunting and gathering
b. Women’s knowledge of plants
contributed to the move to sett led
agriculture, but women did not benefit
from that move
c. “Great Leap Sideways”
5. Larger tools further separate genders
a. Men took over yoking animals
b. Women left with repetitive tasks of
planting, weeding and harvesting, and
grinding
c. Agricultural innovations increased
drudgery, which mainly fell to women
d. Fossil record clearly shows gendered
farm work
i. Women’s fossil record shows more
physical problems with sett led
agriculture
6. Stratification of genders affected
power relations within households and
community
a. Senior male figure becomes dominant
in households, politics, and cultural
hierarchies
b. Division among men but especially
between men and women
c. Patriarchy, or the “rule of senior males,”
within households spreads globally
VIII. Conclusion
A. African hominids evolved from other primates
into Homo erectus hominids
B. Climate change and adaptation led to the
spread of successive generations of hominids
out of Africa
C. Homo sapiens with larger brains moved out of
Africa about 100,000 years ago
1. Language and complex thinking helped
them adapt during further climate change
D. As they adapted over time they formed
communities of hunters and gatherers
E. Changes in climate in some places in the world
led to embrace of sett led agriculture
F. Sett led farm communities varied in what they
grew and which animals were domesticated
G. Some peoples continued to hunt and gather or
move with migrating fish or mammals
H. Most people remained exclusively rural,
developed largely horizontal social structures,
and depended on the natural world

LECTURE IDEAS
Time
On p. 4 of the textbook, the authors briefly discuss time
and various views on time. Many students have never
thought about the fact that there are multiple ways to mea-
sure and perceive time, either in the form of seasons, as is
seen in some medieval texts, or cyclical time, such as the
wet and dry periods in Egypt. During the Shang dynasty
in China, a new system of time was devised that divided
the day into two periods—night and day—with ten-day
weeks that were repeated in sixty-day cycles called the
“heavenly stem.” Each civilization devised its own myths
around the division of time and seasons. You can draw in
the “starting point” of dating for the Muslims, Hindus,
Jews, Chinese, and Sioux. Th is thematic lecture allows
you to discuss all of the societies mentioned in this chap-
ter and opens a window onto their social, geographic, cli-
matic, and agricultural differences. As a side note you can
also discuss the difference between the historical term pe-
riod as opposed to specific times, as well as the meaning of
the word dynasty and its relevance in regard to the names
of the Chinese dynasties, such as the Shang dynasty or
the Zhou dynasty.
Civilization
Synthesize the salient aspects present in all early societ-
ies necessary to their survival. You can then cite those so-
cieties as a way to summarize a great deal of material in
the text. Whether you choose to call them civilizations,
complex cultures, or urban societies, these large groups of
communities had distinct common characteristics, which
when ordered into a typology, make the development of
humanity clearer and more easily understood. Point out
that historians quibble over the nuances of the defi ni-
tions and terms for these human formations. For example,
one world civilization text talks about complex cultures,
whereas another one refers to the same concept but calls
them civilizations. All of these texts cite necessary com-
mon characteristics such as religion, a military, and the
practice of material acquisition, although they do not agree
on what is “necessary.” Other historians give different cri-
teria, such as the existence of a monarchy, hierarchy, or
patriarchy, fi ne arts, and economic and cultural changes.
Some historians believe the development of writing must
exist, as well as intellectual and artistic activity and a sys-
tem of capital—with or without a monetary system. Point
out that all early civilizations developed around rivers and
in temperate grain-growing areas, providing food, the
ability to trade, water to drink, and irrigation, thus ending
nomadic life in India, China, Mesopotamia, and Egypt,
and Nubia. You can create a short table with dates, rivers,
Chapter 1 Becoming Human ◆ 7
civilizations, and so on. Although this is appropriate for a
lecture, it will be far more successful if you encourage stu-
dent participation. Let students tell you what is necessary
in the successful creation and function of a civilization.
The more involved they are in the creation of a typology,
the deeper their learning of this period of history and the
organizational structures of these early civilizations.
Venus Figurines
Using the reference from page 24 in the text on the Wil-
lendorf Venus, expand on the topic of Venus figurines to
add depth to your students’ knowledge of women’s roles
in prehistory as well as speculation on prehistoric religion
and social life. Provide students with access to a variety
of Venus figurine images (all available on the Internet;
search by figurine name), including the Willendorf Venus
from Austria. Show students images of the Venus of Dolní
Věstonice in the Czech Republic; the Venus figurines
from the cemetery of Cernavoda, Rumania; the Venus
figurine found at Çatalhöyük; and figurines from Israel,
Bratislava, Slovakia, and France, among others. Provide
a map that marks the regions where the figurines have
been discovered so students can see the broad geographic
spread of this art form. Discuss the remarkable similari-
ties among the figurines. You can develop a lecture and
discussion can be formed around these images based on
many unanswerable questions. Why are similar figurines
found across Europe and Central Asia? Is this an indica-
tion of migration patterns or cross-cultural sharing? What
does the emphasis on breasts, vulva, and stomach signify?
Why have no similar representations of men been found,
as in Africa with later statuary? What can we posit about
early humans from these most common forms of art?
CLASS ACTIVITIES
Art: The Cave of Chauvet
Use images such as those found at the Web site for the
Cave of Chauvet in France:
www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/chauvet/en/
to help students begin thinking about the degree of
change in human development during this period. Con-
sider having them look at these images as one of the fi rst
things you do in the semester, even before a great deal of
lecturing. Have students form groups and let them explore
the cave drawings. By providing the images without text,
you create the forum and climate for further questioning.
They have a minimum amount of detail on which to for-
mulate suppositions about the lives of these early humans,
the purpose of the drawings, and the purpose of the caves.
8 ◆ Chapter 1 Becoming Human

The images depict bones, animals, and parts of human cuss them in the class and play the game it can take at least
bodies, but no representations of entire human bodies. thirty to fi ft y minutes. Caveman Challenge Game:
Why might that be? You may want to see if students come www.bbc.co.uk/sn/prehistoric_life/games/cavemen/
to this recognition on their own, or you could point it out
to them and let each group discuss the meaning of the
symbols and imagery on the cave walls. Th is preparatory RECOMMENDED FILMS
experience and participation by students leads into a more
spirited lecture and discussion. ■ Ape Man: The Story of Human Evolution (four-part se-
ries, each 50 min.). Th is is an older series hosted by Walter
Cronkite and set in Africa. Still significant, its transdis-
ciplinary focus allows for a strong explanation of our un-
Food: Hunter-Gatherers derstanding of human development. Parts II and III are
probably the most relevant for world civilization courses.
Food provides an interesting, interactive, and informa-
Part II, “Giant Strides”, takes the viewer into the hunter-
tive way to help your students begin to think about what
gatherer’s early technological world with the development
life might have been like for hunter-gatherers. Have them
of tools and the use of fi re. In part III, “All in the Mind”,
read the sections on the Stone Age or the Neolithic Pe-
Cronkite discusses one of the next major developmental
riod. Then have them research what kinds of food hunter-
shifts—language and its impact on humanity. One of the
gatherers had available to them according to the main
great advantages of brain and language development was
regions they inhabited, for example, Europe, China, Mes-
enhanced creativity. Tools became decorated and indi-
opotamia, Africa, India, and the Americas. Have them
vidualized. Th is is the period when cave paintings were
form groups and assign each group a region. Ask students
created. Consider combining the Classroom Activity on
to bring in small samples of the foods that would have
the caves at Chauvet with portions of this DVD. Part IV,
commonly been eaten or a food that is the closest variable.
“Science and Fiction” is less about the debate between
(For example, in Scandinavia the lingonberry was one of
creationists and evolutionists than about controversies
the most common berries but is not available in North
among scientists about the origins and the future of hu-
America, so students should substitute with blueberries).
mans, which could be useful in discussions on the devel-
Ask students to create representations of the food for a
opment of historiography.
family of four for one day. Have them present the food ac-
cording to which gender collected it and the ratio of food ■ The Feast (29 min.). This documentary, produced by
type. For example, it has been projected that women and Timothy Asch and Napoleon Chagnon as part of the Ya-
children collected approximately 65 to 75 percent of the nomamo series, includes a study guide found at
calories, gathering mostly berries and nuts, some grains, der.org/resources/study-guides/the-feast.pdf
and some small game or fish in a region such as northern
Th is fi lm records the lives of modern day Stone Age
Europe. The men contributed 35 percent—and sometimes
people, the Yanomamo of southern Venezuela and north-
nothing at all in a day—because they usually hunted large
ern Brazil. Any of the fi lms from this series reflects peo-
game. By dividing the food according to what is collected
ple’s lives in prehistoric communities. Its brevity allows
by group, the students gain an important visual lesson
students to view the fi lm and engage in a brief discussion
that they don’t seem to understand with text alone. Visual
of the value of viewing the lives of these modern people as
representations of the contributions by gender make a
a window into the prehistoric Stone Age. The Yanomamo
greater impact of this important historical detail.
are struggling with the ever encroaching presence of big
Use the following BBC Web game as either a class ac-
corporations and urbanization. But on the other hand, we
tivity or an at-home assignment to stimulate further dis-
as historians can gain much knowledge by viewing their
cussion and promote understanding of the development
day-to-day lives, including information on ceremonial
of humans. If you play the game in the classroom, you can
practices, eating, gender traditions, the need for allies,
discuss the facts elucidated at the end of each brief sec-
and aggression.
tion and why one choice might be better than another. In-
stead of your making the class choices on the computer, ■ “The Hearth” (no. 2 of the Out of the Past Film Series,
you might ask for a student volunteer to increase class- 1992, 60 min.). The fi lms in this series were photographed
room participation and ownership. The game is fi lled with primarily at Copán, Honduras. “The Hearth” is based on
important details regarding the evolutionary stages and the premise that the family formed early society’s funda-
brings to life many of the facts from the book. If you dis- mental structure and sets out to show family life in early
 Chapter 1 Becoming Human ◆ 9

ancient communities. Focusing on two households, the WEB SITES

narrator shows the viewer how these families relate to
the outside world as part of the economic infrastructure.
Even more important, the fi lm shows the development of
the Americas.
RECOMMENDED READING
Stephanie Dalley, 1998. Myths from Mesopotamia:
Creation, the Flood, Gilgamesh, and Others.
Jared Diamond, 2005. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates
of Human Societies.
Gerda Lerner, 1987. Creation of Patriarchy, Chapters 1, 2,
and 3.
Steve Mithen, 2006. After the Ice: A Global Human
History 20,000–5000 b.c.
Christopher Scarre and Brian M. Fagan, 2008. Ancient
Civilizations, 3rd ed.
Marjorie Shostak, 2000. Nisa: The Life and Words of a
!Kung Woman.
Robert J. Wenke and Deborah I. Olszewski, 2006.
Patterns in Prehistory: Humankind’s First Three
Million Years.
Randall White, 2003. Prehistoric Art: The Symbolic
Journey of Humankind.
Action Bioscience
Articles examining the debate over the “out of Africa”
theory
www.actionbioscience.org/evolution/johanson.
html
Caveman Challenge Game
The BBC site offers an interactive “cavemen challenge.”
Students can test themselves on this page.
www.bbc.co.uk/sr/prehistoric-life/games/cavemen
Smithsonian Institution
The Smithsonian’s Human Origins Program covers all
aspects of evolutionary science.
anthropology.si.edu/humanorigins
Leakey Foundation Timeline of Discovery
Click on Education, then Timetable of Discovery
www.leakeyfoundation.org/
Stonehenge
www.stonehenge.co.uk/
The Cave at Lascaux
www.culture.gouv.fr/culture/arcnat/lascaux/en/
Museum of London exhibit London before London
www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English/
EventsExhibitions/Permanent/
LondonBeforeLondon.htm
Prehistoric Life
www.bbc.co.uk/sn/prehistoric_life/
CH A PTER 2
Rivers, Cities, and First States,
4000–2000 bce
▶ Sett lement, Pastoralism, and Trade
Development of Cities (3500 bce)
Early Cities along River Basins
Pastoral Nomadic Communities
The Rise of Trade
▶ Between Two Rivers: Mesopotamia (5500–2000 bce)
Tapping the Waters
Crossroads of Southwest Asia
First Cities
Gods and Temples
The Palace and Royal Power
Social Hierarchy and Families
First Writing and Early Texts
Spreading Cites and First Territorial States
▶ Indus Valley: A Parallel Culture
Harrappan, on Banks of Ravi River
Indus Valley Boasted Many Ecological Advantages
Harappan City Life
Trade
▶ The Gift of the Nile: Egypt (5000–2000 bce)
LECTURE OUTLINE
In this chapter, we fi nd complex civilizations emerging
in certain regions of the world. As the climate changed,
humans began to adapt. In some regions, they moved to
larger communities, eventually forming cities. The abil-
ity to adapt their agriculture and to control irrigation was
important in this process. Th ree riverine cultures are dis-
cussed in this chapter, beginning with those in the flood-
plains of the Euphrates and Tigris, where the fi rst cities
in Mesopotamia emerged. Those cities are compared with
the riverine culture developing in the Indus River basin.
Finally, we see the Nile River’s influence on the develop-
ment of Egyptian civilization. Early examples in China
are also discussed. But although new complex societies
were developing along major rivers, most people remained
10
Ancient Egypt Was a Melting Pot
The Nile River and Its Floodwaters
Egypt’s Unique Riverine Culture
The Rise of the State and Dynasties
Rituals, Pyramids, and True Order
Religion of Ancient Egypt
Writing and Scribes
The Prosperity of Egypt
The Later Dynasties and Their Demise
▶ Riverine Peoples in East Asia (5000–2000 bce)
The Future Chinese State Originated Along the
Yellow River and Yangzi River
From Yangshao to Longshan Culture
Life in Liangzhu
Th ird-millennium Droughts
▶ Afro-Eurasian Life on the Margins
Aegean Worlds
Anatolia
The Western Frontier: Europe
tied to rural areas. Rural and urban differences are raised
throughout the chapter. Some areas such as the Aegean,
Anatolia, and Europe moved toward increased popula-
tions and trade but were not so advanced as the riverine
civilizations. Still many other people remained nomadic
and lived far from cities or large communities. We will see
their impact on world civilization in the next chapter.
I. Snapshot of the City of Uruk
II. Sett lement, Pastoralism, and Trade
A. Development of cities (3500 bce)
1. Populations moved close to reliable water
sources
2. Climate change led to longer growing
seasons
 Chapter 2 Rivers, Cities, and First States, 4000–2000 bce ◆ 11
3. Cities scarce and only in select areas
a. Needed stable river system
b. Fertile soil
c. Access to water for irrigation
d. Availability of domesticated plants and
animals
4. Labor specialization led to trade outside
cities
a. Raw materials traded for fi nished goods
B. Early cities along river basins
1. Th ree areas developed
a. Tigris and Euphrates basin (modern
Iraq)
b. Indus River basin (modern Pakistan)
c. Northern Nile River (modern Egypt)
2. Changed how humans farmed and fed
themselves between 4000 and 2000 bce
a. Intensive irrigation agriculture
b. More people moved to cities
c. Community organization
d. Changed how they worshiped
i. Prayed to many anthropomorphic
gods
ii. Kings and priests involved
e. New types of record keeping
i. Also happened along Yellow River
in China
3. New technologies
a. Wheel for pottery and vehicles
b. Metallurgy and stone working
c. Writing systems
4. Urban-rural divide
a. Urban life characterized by mass
production and specialization
b. Rural life characterized by closeness
to nature; cultivated land and tended
livestock
c. Two lifeways codependent
d. Closely linked through trade, politics,
and religion
5. Smaller sett lements around 3500 bce
a. Most people lived in small, egalitarian
village communities
b. Organized by clan and family
allegiances
c. Tools: stone, wood, and gourds
d. Environment limited size of sett lement
i. Chicama Valley, Peru, example
e. Villages had ceremonial structures
f. Valley of Tehuacan people raised corn
but did urbanize
g. Sub-Saharan Africa
i. Lake Chad sett lements
a. Yams, oil palms, and
plantains
ii. Sudan
a. Millet and sorghum
iii. Lake Victoria
a. Farms and villages
iv. Traded long distances
v. Pottery style similar across region
C. Pastoral nomadic communities
1. Herding and breeding sheep and goats
2. Moved to periphery of sett lements for
pastures
3. About 3500 bce, nomadic groups moved
cyclically from highlands to lowlands
4. Small, impermanent sett lements
a. Afro-Eurasia’s mountains and desert
barriers
b. Steppe lands from inner and central
Eurasia to Pacific Ocean
5. Lived next to and traded with sett led
agrarian people when in the lowlands
6. Horses used in the steppe lands of Afro-
Eurasia
D. The rise of trade
1. Sett led communities increased need for
trade
2. Sett lements allowed for accumulation of
material wealth
3. Luxuries traded
a. Obsidian
b. Trickle, or down-the-line, trade
4. Long-distance trade established by 5000
bce for raw materials
a. Outposts established to coordinate and
monitor resources
5. Trading stations or entrepôts at borders
a. Allowed multiple exchanges
b. Pack-animal caravans
III. Between Two Rivers: Mesopotamia (5500–2000
bce)
A. Tapping the waters
1. Mesopotamia means country “between
two rivers”
2. Tigris and Euphrates Rivers wild and
unpredictable
3. Revolutionary irrigation system created
4. Area included modern-day Iraq, parts of
Syria, and southeastern Turkey
a. Varied topography
b. Unified by interlocking drainage basin
12 ◆ Chapter 2 Rivers, Cities, and First States, 4000–2000 bce
c. Rivers provided irrigation and served as
transportation routes
5. First sett lements in foothills of Zagros
Mountains
a. Simple irrigation led to higher
agricultural yields
6. Plains living required more sophisticated
waterworks
a. Levees, ditches, canals, and water
storage
7. Grew wheat, millet, sesame, and barley
a. Barley used for diet staple, beer
B. Crossroads of Southwest Asia
1. Mesopotamia had few natural resources
2. Needed to trade with surrounding areas
a. Cedar from Lebanon
b. Copper and stones from Oman
c. Copper from Turkey and Iran
d. Lapis lazuli from Afghanistan
3. Few boundaries made easy trade
4. Good soil, water, and trade led to growth of
cities
5. Vulnerable to invaders from desert and
mountains
6. Became meeting ground for several
different cultures
a. Sumerians in the south
b. Hurrians in the north
c. Semites in west and central areas
C. First cities
1. Fourth-century bce migration from rural
villages to growing city centers
a. Eridu
b. Nippur
c. Uruk
2. Early cities grew gradually
a. Buildings of mud brick
3. Eridu
a. Housed Sumerian water god, Ea
b. Sacred site with temples
c. Temple rebuilt over 20 times, more
elaborate each time
d. Over 35 cities with major divine
sanctuaries throughout Mesopotamia
4. Cities were meeting places for peoples and
their deities
a. Urban design reflected city’s
greatness
i. Sheepfolds
ii. Suburbs
iii. Common layout
5. City-states developed
a. Common culture
b. Intense trade
c. Shared environment
D. Gods and temples
1. Sumerian and Akkadian gods shaped
worldview
a. Epic of Gilgamesh depicts gods’ power
2. Each god occupied major floodplain city
a. God’s character shaped city’s society
and culture
3. Temples were homes of gods and symbols
of urban identity
a. Allowed gods to hoard wealth where
mortals lived and traded
b. Distinguished urban from rural
c. Architecture demonstrated city’s power
i. Rulers and important people
gained status by contributing
to temple’s construction and
upkeep
d. Altars held cult images
e. Stepped platform called ziggurat
4. Temple was god’s estate
a. Housed priests, officials, laborers, and
servants
b. Engaged in productive and commercial
activities
c. Enormous work force
d. Workshops produced textiles and
leather goods
e. Employed skilled craftsmen
f. Sponsored long-distance trade
g. Household model used throughout
Sumerian and Akkadian economy
E. The palace and royal power
1. Appeared around 2500 bce
2. Defi ning landmark of city life
3. Palace became rival to temple
4. Palace and temple life often overlapped
a. Sacred Marriage
5. Located on edge of city
6. Became powerful expressions of secular,
military, and administrative authority
7. Rulers tied their status to gods through
burial arrangements
a. Royal cemetery at Ur
i. Sixteen high-status graves
ii. Graves contained bodies of
sacrificial victims
iii. Demonstrated elaborate burial
festivals
F. Social hierarchy and families
 Chapter 2 Rivers, Cities, and First States, 4000–2000 bce ◆ 13
1. Needed communal effort to build and
maintain irrigation system
a. Collect taxes
b. Draft labor to build and preserve
waterworks
2. City-states run by elders and young
men
3. Empowered elite became permanent part
of society
4. Rulers
a. Privileged access to economic and
political resources
b. Used bureaucracy, priesthood, and law
c. Priests and bureaucrats served the
rulers
5. Occupation determined social status
a. King and priest
b. Bureaucrats
c. Supervisors
d. Specialized craft workers
e. Male and female workers
6. Household operated as a closed economic
unit
7. Movement between economic classes
unusual
8. Independent merchants risked long-
distance trade
9. Family households also hierarchical
a. Senior male patriarch dominated
b. Single-family household
i. Husband and wife bound by
contract
ii. Monogamy the norm
iii. Sons inherited in equal shares
iv. Daughters received dowry gifts
v. Adoption used if no male heir
c. Most women lived in contract
marriages
d. A few women joined temple as
priestesses
i. Could own estates and productive
enterprises
ii. Father or brothers still responsible
for woman
G. First writing and early texts
1. First written history in Mesopotamian
cities
a. Promoted power of temples and kings
2. Writing used to keep track of trade
3. Complex societies required a way to
communicate between people and over
distance
4. Reading and writing emerged in
Mesoamerica, China, Mesopotamia, and
Egypt
5. Precursor to writing appeared in
Mesopotamia
6. Rebus: transfer of name of thing to sounds
7. Writing: technology of symbols that uses
marks to record specific discrete sounds
8. Scribes special in Mesopotamian society
a. Wrote on clay tablets with reeds
b. Wedge-shaped writing: cuneiform
c. Writing allowed for ideas to be
transmitted across time and distance
d. Literacy limited to an influential scribe
elite
9. Ancient cuneiform script revealed
Mesopotamian history
a. Rebus fi rst appeared 3000 bce
b. Political, historical, and economic
events were recorded by 2400 bce
c. Cuneiform adapted to different
languages
d. Literacy spread and gave rise to
narratives
i. The temple hymns 2100 bce
ii. Sumerian king list 2000 bce
a. Includes Great Flood Story
H. Spreading cities and fi rst territorial states
1. Early Dynastic Age (2850–2334 bce)
2. Akkadian territorial state (2334–2193)
a. Founder King Sargon of Akkad (r.
2334–2279)
b. United southern Mesopotamian
cities
c. Created fi rst multiethnic collection of
urban centers—the territorial state
3. Sargon sponsored monumental
architecture, art work, and literature
4. Sargon increased geographic influence
5. Akkad capital conquered in 2190 bce
a. Legend of “barbarians” wreaking havoc
on “civilization”
IV. Indus Valley: A Parallel Culture
A. Harrappan, on banks of Ravi River
1. Local traditions combined with other
outside traditions
2. Early sett lements along foothills of
Baluchistan Mountains
3. Fertile soils yield surplus
4. Fortified cities established with major
public works
14 ◆ Chapter 2 Rivers, Cities, and First States, 4000–2000 bce
5. Flooding most important natural force to
riverine folk
B. Indus Valley boasted many ecological
advantages
1. Predictable flooding from Himalaya snow
runoff
2. No torrential monsoons as on the Ganges
plain
3. Wheat and barley planted after waters
receded
4. Food surplus freed many inhabitants from
having to grow food
5. Specialization and urbanization led to
growing cities
a. Two largest cities—35,000 inhabitants
i. Harappa
ii. Mohenjo Daro
6. Harappan cities two to three times bigger
than Mesopotamian cultural zone
C. Harappan city life
1. Less is known about Harrapan culture
a. Many sites remain under water
b. Cannot identify spoken language
c. 400 symbol scripts; may be a
nonlinguistic symbol system
d. Only stamps found
e. Unable to catalog political history
2. What is known is through archaeological
reconstructions
a. Harappan cities and towns followed
same general patterns
i. Fortified citadels and residential
area
ii. Main street with covered
drainage
b. Citadels were likely centers of political
and ritual activities
c. Mohenjo Daro citadel contained a great
bath
d. Houses for notables, city walls, and
water drainage all built from brick
e. Well-built houses contained bathrooms,
showers, and toilets
D. Trade
1. Along Indus River, into Iranian Plateau to
the Persian Gulf
2. Traded raw and fi nished goods for gold,
silver, gemstones, and textiles
3. Trade towns located in remote but strategic
locations
a. Lothal located on Gulf of Khambhat
(Cambay)
b. Provided access to the sea and to raw
materials
c. Precious gemstones such as carnelian
were sought after
d. Other stones had to be imported
e. Metals such as copper and silver were
mined
4. Used script and weights and measures in
trade
V. The Gift of the Nile: Egypt (5000–2000 bce)
A. Ancient Egypt was a melting pot
1. People came from Sinai, Libya, Nubia, and
central Africa
2. Blended cultural practices and
technologies
3. Much in common with Mesopotamia
a. Dense population
b. Depended on irrigation
c. Monumental architecture
d. Rulers had immense authority
e. Complex social order
4. Egypt geography distinct
a. Nile River
b. Desert
c. Limited cultivatable land
B. The Nile River and its floodwaters
1. Longest river in the world
a. 4,238 miles
2. Source in the African highlands
3. People migrated to Nile Valley from south
4. Two branches: Blue and White
5. Annual floods created green belts
6. Most people lived close to the river
7. Most “riverine” of the riverine cultures
8. Nile predictable
a. White Nile, steady stream of water
b. Blue Nile provided floodwaters
9. Early basin irrigation system devised
a. Led to new layer of topsoil each year
10. No role by the Egyptian state in flood
control
11. Government assisted in building
storehouses
C. Egypt’s unique riverine culture
1. Geography led to development of Egyptian
culture
2. Fewer outsiders than in Mesopotamia or
Indus River basin
3. Natural resources available locally
a. Metals, colorful stones, gold, exotic
woods, plants, and animals
 Chapter 2 Rivers, Cities, and First States, 4000–2000 bce ◆ 15

b. Additional labor came from the south in c. Enormous labor required to build
Nubia pyramids
4. Some differences between Lower and i. Peasants and workers
Upper Egypt ii. Slaves from Nubia
5. Pharaoh needed to provide stability—ma’at iii. Captured peoples from
6. Ma’at allowed all that was good to occur Mediterranean
D. The rise of the state and dynasties F. Religion of ancient Egypt
1. Egypt developed quickly 1. Religion played an important role
2. King’s task to control nature, especially the a. World inhabited by three groups
Nile floods i. Gods
3. Invaders threatened from east and south ii. Kings
4. Egyptian history organized by dynasties iii. Rest of humanity
5. Th irty-one dynasties 2. Each region had different gods
a. Old Kingdom (2649–2152 bce) a. Thebes had Amun
b. Middle Kingdom (2040–1640 bce) 3. Gods evolved over time
c. New Kingdom (1550–1070 bce) a. Gods represented by animal and human
6. Periods of weak authority between symbols
kingdoms i. Horus, the hawk god
a. First, Second, Th ird Intermediate ii. Osiris, god of regeneration and
Periods underworld
E. Rituals, pyramids, and the true order iii. Hathor, god of childbirth and
1. Old Kingdom, the golden age of Egypt love
2. Ruler possessed divine powers iv. Ra, the sun god
a. Ma’at, true order, personified v. Amun, creator, the hidden god
3. Rulers built and used impressive 4. Official religious rituals took place in
architecture temples
a. Sed Festival renewed vitality of king 5. Kings cared for gods in their temples
b. Came from need for water 6. Contractual relationship between gods and
c. King Djoser (r. 2630–2611) celebrated humans
at Saqqara 7. Humans had active role in their belief in
d. World’s oldest stone edifice at Saqqara gods’ powers
i. Began as a mastaba (“bench”) a. Cult required rituals and
ii. Imhotep was architect communication with gods
iii. Six renovations led to step pyramid b. Priesthood responsible for rituals
4. Step pyramid and complex served as a stage 8. Creation of priesthood
for ritual a. Elaborate rules
5. Pharaoh, king as god, used tomb to b. Extensive training
embody the state’s ideology c. Highly stratified
6. Myth of death leading to everlasting life d. Only priests could enter temple
7. Many symbols and special names for power 9. Gods left temples only in portable shrines
8. Cosmic order as unequal and hierarchical 10. Unofficial popular religions also existed
9. Pharaoh’s power derived from his godhood a. Ordinary people visited local shrines
a. Gods were serene, orderly, merciful, and b. Magic played a strong role
perfect i. Amulets
10. Pyramid building evolved rapidly ii. Omens and divination
a. Fourth Dynasty kings built Giza iii. Animals believed to have
pyramids supernatural powers
i. Pyramid of Khufu, largest stone G. Writing and scribes
structure in the world 1. Literacy shaped divisions between rural
ii. Khephren’s pyramid guarded by and urban life
Sphinx 2. Scribes held a special place in society
b. Royal tombs are nearby a. Recorded trade
16 ◆ Chapter 2 Rivers, Cities, and First States, 4000–2000 bce
b. Religious, historical, and literature
records
3. Egyptian script complicated
a. Became simpler over time
b. More Egyptians than Mesopotamians
literate
c. Most high-ranking Egyptians were
trained as scribes
d. Worked for king’s court, army, or
priesthood
e. Sometimes kings and royal family could
write
4. Two basic forms of Egyptian writing
a. Hieroglyphs, “sacred carving”
i. Used in temple, royal, or divine
contexts
b. Demotic writing, cursive script
i. Most common and practical
writing
ii. Administrative records
iii. Private writing
iv. Literature
v. Manuals and other texts
5. Training for scribes
a. Started young
b. Entered bureaucracy
c. Literacy high achievement
d. Literate people buried with textbooks
H. The prosperity of Egypt
1. Population grew to 5 million by 1500 bce
2. Strong state rooted in bureaucracy
a. Maintained records
b. Watched over society
c. Regulated Nile’s floodwaters
3. Culture predictable and highly resistant to
change
4. No large-scale cities
a. Divide between rural and urban life less
stark
5. Most people lived along Nile River basin
just beyond the floodplain
I. The later dynasties and their demise
1. State became more dispersed
2. More variation and adaptation by Fift h
Dynasty
3. By Middle Kingdom, more officials had
access to certain burial rituals
4. Sixth-Dynasty Egypt extended power
5. Trade increased
6. Expansion and decentralization ended Old
Kingdom
a. Pepy II last ruler of the Old Kingdom
7. Old Kingdom followed by First
Intermediate Period (2150–2040 bce)
VI. Riverine Peoples in East Asia (5000–2000 bce)
A. The future Chinese state originated along the
Yellow River and Yangzi River
1. Chinese culture slower to develop than
Mesopotamia, Indus River, or Egyptian
culture
2. Remained a localized agrarian culture
3. Lack of domesticated animals and plants
4. Geography isolated China
B. From Yangshao to Longshan cultures
1. Yellow River Basin evidence challenges
traditional history
a. 4000–2000 bce
2. China never completely isolated like
Americas
3. Mongolian steppe allowed new
technologies through
a. Chariot introduced by nomads
b. Bronze
4. Nomads eventually sett led on the rivers in
more complex cultures
a. Breakthroughs in communication
b. Yangshao pottery showed signs and
symbols by 5000 bce
c. Shamans, many of them women, used
signs in performing rituals
5. Early Chinese riverine societies
a. Produced stone and pottery storage
vessels
i. Longshan black pottery and town
enclosure found
ii. Contrast with more-primitive sites
in Yangshao
iii. Deer scapulas used by diviners
6. Longshan people likely migrated from
peripheries
a. Developed between 5000 and 2000 bce
b. Several regions shared similar pottery
and tools
c. Likely came into contact with other
regions
d. No city-states, but agriculture
flourished
7. Longshan showed beginnings of urban
life
a. Buried dead in cemeteries outside of
village
i. Tombs contain objects
b. Shaman performed rituals with jade
 Chapter 2 Rivers, Cities, and First States, 4000–2000 bce ◆ 17
i. Jade quarrying required advanced
technology
c. Organized violence
i. Mass grave with scalped household
members
ii. Defensive wall found
d. More interregional contact
i. Migration to East Asian coast
e. Objects show a shared cultural and
trading sphere
f. Short-lived and scattered political
organizations
i. Chieftains
ii. Era of Ten Thousand States
(Wan’guo)
C. Life in Liangzhu
1. Grew rice and fruits along the Qiantang
River
a. Used tools and domesticated animals
b. Familiar with watercraft
2. Stone and bone artifacts highly developed
a. Produced black pottery
b. Created ritual objects from jade
D. Th ird-millennium droughts
1. Chinese recovered and created elaborate
agrarian systems during second
millennium bce
a. Yellow River
b. Yangzi River
2. Similar civilizations to those along
Euphrates, Indus, and Nile
a. Extensive trade networks
b. Highly stratified social hierarchy
c. Centralized polity
d. Chinese social and political systems
diverged
i. Emphasized the past
ii. Tradition
iii. Rising scholarly elite
VII. Afro-Eurasian Life on the Margins
A. Aegean worlds
1. Outside the river basins
a. Warrior-based ethos
b. Chiefs and military men were top social
tier
c. More egalitarian than urban dwellers
d. Politically less centralized
2. Geography stopped urban development
a. Scattered sett lements separated by
natural obstacles
i. Crete traded with other regions
ii. Communities remained small
villages
iii. Knosses emerges, second
millennium bce
B. Anatolia
1. Regional cultures emerged because of
trade routes
2. Small cities emerged around fortified
citadels
a. Horoz Tepe
b. Alaça Hüyük
3. Troy important third millennium bce
site
a. Famous from Homer’s Iliad
b. Modern mound of Hissarlik
c. First rediscovered in 1870
d. Well fortified with monumental stone
gateways
e. Troy II had five buildings called
megarons
i. Megarons were forerunners of
Greek temples
f. Artifacts of active trade system linking
Aegean and southwest Asia
C. The western frontier: Europe
1. Early Europeans moved into sett lements
and created complex societies
2. Hierarchies replaced older egalitarian
ways
3. Warfare dominated social development
4. Plowing and clearing woodlands expanded
agriculture
5. Households and small communities
a. Organized irrigation and sett lements
6. Frequent confl icts over resources
7. Flint mining an example of social and
cultural change
a. Made resources cheaper so more tools
available
b. More communities flourished
8. Large communities by 4000 bce
a. Gave label for construction of large
fi xed monuments
b. Megalith, “great stone”
i. Avebury
ii. Stonehenge
9. Increased interaction led to more wealth
and warfare
a. Burials with drinking cups, “bell
beakers”
10. Agricultural communities produced
surpluses
18 ◆ Chapter 2 Rivers, Cities, and First States, 4000–2000 bce
11. Surpluses and desire for land led to more
tribal warfare
12. Split between eastern and western
Europe
a. West batt led over territory and
resources
i. Agriculture and metalworking part
of daily life
b. Warfare led to need for better weapons
i. Bronze, an alloy of copper and tin
ii. Weapons produced in bulk
iii. Trade network distributed
weapons
13. Warfare made Europe more innovative
a. Fueled demand for weapons, alcohol,
and, later, horses
VIII. Conclusion
A. Near some giant rivers, complex human
cultures emerged
1. Most densely populated regions
a. Occupation specialization
b. Social hierarchy
c. Rising material standards of living
d. Highly developed systems of art and
science
e. Centralized production and distribution
of food, cloth, and other goods
B. Ceremonial sites and trading entrepôts became
cities
1. Centralized religious and political systems
emerged
2. Scribes, priests, and rulers labored to keep
complex societies together
C. Sharper distinction between urban and rural
dwellers
D. Urbanization shaped social and cultural
distinctions
1. Affected the roles of men and women
E. Riverine cultures distinct
1. Single river such as Nile or the Indus
2. Floodplain such as Tigris or Euphrates
3. Later, Chinese culture developed along
Yellow and Yangzi rivers
F. Some advancement in trade and agriculture but
not so much as in riverine cultures
1. Anatolia
2. Aegean
3. Europe
4. Part of China
G. Climate affected everyone and could slow or
reverse development
LECTURE IDEAS
Creation Myths
It is always fruitful to expose your students to the vari-
ety of creation and flood myths. Consider combining the
various sources used in chapters 2 and 3 in your lecture.
Help your students to place the archetypes, chronologies,
and themes into context as well as creating linkages from
one civilization to another. Since you can’t possibly draw
on all of the myths, you will need to select from a few key
groups. Keeping your population group in mind, use cre-
ation myths that your students may be able to relate to,
that you think they will fi nd interesting, and that might
require them to reevaluate stereotypes or disinformation.
Often students are surprised by the chronology of early
Mesopotamian creation and flood myths and how they
were appropriated by Judeo-Christian traditions. Your
text has already introduced students to Gilgamesh (see p.
61) and Popol Vuh (see p. 39), so you might consider build-
ing on these works. Discuss historical and anthropologi-
cal theories regarding transitions to patriarchy and the
disempowerment of female divinities such as the goddess
variously known as Ishtar, Inanna (see p. 62), and Isis (see
p. 78).
Divinity and the Legitimating of Authority
Each of the early societies struggled with central ques-
tions regarding the development of its belief systems, ex-
planations of events, and defi nitions of social structures.
A key aspect of these issues was how each society chose to
legitimate power, often through the establishment of a di-
vine right or “godliness” of its leaders. It is important that
students see that the question of authority is a common
human issue and that there are multiple ways to resolve
this need. Using a thematic structure, discuss the various
explanations and manifestations of rulers’ divinity, for ex-
ample China’s concept of the Mandate of Heaven, which
evolved during the Shang dynasty and was refi ned by the
Zhou, to the idea of ma’at in Egypt (chapter 2). When
discussing Egypt, mention the brief reign of Akhenaten
and his unsuccessful attempt to create an early form of
monotheism. By describing the historical events that led
to his collapse, you can show how Egyptians would have
assumed that the principal of ma’at led to Akhenaten’s fall
and a reestablishment of balance. You can then compare
this case to India’s acceptance of the caste system and the
role of the Brahmans in Brahmanism and later Hindu-
ism. Then cite the Aztecs to discuss the divinity of kings
in Mayan and Aztec cultures. If there is time, you can ex-
tend this discussion into chapter 3, when the text begins
to focus on pastoralism and nomads. Help your students
 Chapter 2 Rivers, Cities, and First States, 4000–2000 bce ◆ 19
to compare and contrast the different structures in leader-
ship among these groups, which tend to be more egalitar-
ian in their decision-making structures.
Nubia
Although the textbook mentions the Nubian presence
as part of Egyptian civilization, this part of African his-
tory is litt le researched. The Nubian/Kush/Meröe king-
dom shared many cultural similarities with its Egyptian
neighbors, but it also shared traits of African groups to
the south. As black Africans, the Nubians provided a
link between the Egyptians and the Bantu-speaking
Africans. More pyramids are extant today in what was
Nubia than in Egypt. For a few years the Nubians actu-
ally ruled all of Egypt. They provided trading links as
well as soldiers and mercenaries for the Egyptians, many
of them during the attacks of the Hyksos. A close look at
the figurines so common in Egyptian pyramids reveals
that many are soldiers and other workers with African
features. See:
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image:Funerary
Model-BakeryAndBrewery _ MetropolitanMuseum.
png
You can use the fi lm Wonders of the Afr ican World: Black
Kingdoms of the Nile to reinforce a lecture on Nubia. To
emphasize Nubia’s own cultural distinctiveness, draw at-
tention to the building of their pyramids and burial prac-
tices as well as governmental structure. Finally, explain
Nubia’s shift to the kingdom of the Kush and its slow de-
cline in power. Although Egyptianized in many ways, the
later culture of the Kush developed and has retained to
this day, its own language and cursive script.
The Olympic Games
The history of the Olympic games can provide a way to
draw political, geographic, material, gender, and social
history into a lecture. Students fi nd this topic very in-
teresting. It also works well with a later lecture on the
Roman gladiator games and other worldviews, again pro-
viding you with the opportunity to enhance deep, whole-
body learning. Explain the foundation of the games, their
purpose, who the games were played for, who was allowed
to play, and the consequences for those who lost. Not all
the games were held with the same frequency. For ex-
ample, the Isthmos games were played every two years at
the Isthmos of Corinth, whereas the Pythian games oc-
curred every four years near Delphi. Many students will
not understand that the games at Olympia—the Olym-
pic games—were only one of the games held in Greece,
not the game. You can point out on a map exactly where
Mount Olympus is, why this game was so important, and
that it was intended to honor the god of gods, Zeus. Im-
ages of the locations in which many of the events were
held are useful tools. A discussion of the different events
according to class, such as horse races, is also helpful. The
duration of the games evolved over time from a single day
to approximately five days. You can provide students with
the general schedule and list of events, pointing out that
the games were only for men; women were not allowed
to participate or view the competition. Th is is only some
of the information available on the Olympic games. For
more, see the following:
The Ancient Olympics
www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/
Ancient Olympic Games
www.archaeolink.com/ancient_olympics_olympic_
games_h.htm
Aryan Assimilation into the Harappan Valley
Harappan civilization came to an end between 1700 and
1000 bce. However, the cause is still unknown. The ar-
rival or encroachment, if you will, of the Aryan nomads
into the Indus valley no doubt played a role in Harappa’s
demise. Students are curious about this particular exam-
ple of a nomadic takeover. They are also curious about the
term Aryan and its link to the later use of the word in Nazi
propaganda. Th is interest provides a perfect opportunity
to expand on a number of themes, possible global patterns
of nomadic cultures, the development of Indian society up
to today, the development of Hinduism, and the coopting
of the term Aryanism by German pseudoscientists in the
late nineteenth century. As the text mentions, the Ary-
ans were a nomadic, warrior group, probably from the
Asian steppes. The stories from the time report them to
be lighter skinned; many were said to be blue eyed. It is
unclear as to whether the Aryans took over Harappa or
assimilated into the civilization. More evidence appears
to indicate a slow assimilation and blending of cultures
that established what became the heart of today’s Indian
culture. The theory that Aryans destroyed the Indus cit-
ies and established a new culture and language is now
rejected by most scholars because no archaeological,
biological, or literary reference supports it. On the other
hand, it is clear that the caste system and many of the oral
myths and early forms of Brahmanism were contributed
by the nomadic Aryans. As the two groups merged, the
former Aryans, who were the warriors, and Brahmins be-
came the upper castes.
20 ◆ Chapter 2 Rivers, Cities, and First States, 4000–2000 bce
In the late nineteenth century, Europeans con-
cluded that all people whose language evolved from
an Indo-European base were more advanced. German
theorists decided that Germanic people were the most
advanced of the people group. In the latter half of the
1800s, a group of German explorers discovered a region
in the mountains of northern India in which the villag-
ers were fair skinned, blond, and blue eyed. They con-
cluded that they had found pure Aryans, the superior
race, and began to study the Vedic texts—the histories
of the Aryans—to determine more about their past.
Later scientific studies have proven their conclusions to
be false. However, the Nazis and other eugenicists used
these conclusions as their excuse to exterminate Jews,
Gypsies, and other “non-Aryans” or to force steriliza-
tion as was done in the United States. The idealization of
conquest pictured in the Vedic hymns was incorporated
into Nazi racist literature, in which German descent was
supposedly traced back to Aryan forebears. The swas-
tika has been used by many ancient indigenous cultures
but in the reverse, it usually refers to the eternity of life.
Ironically, the latest research by Hindu experts seems
to conclude that the word Aryan is a misinterpretation
of the original Sanskrit word arya, which means pure or
good.
You can expand on this lecture by discussing the caste
system in more detail, the Vedas, the development of the
chariot by the Aryans, or the development of Brahman-
ism. All of these have important historical significance.
See “The Myth of the Aryan Invasion of India” at:
www.indiaforum.org/india/hinduism/aryan/index.
html
CLASS ACTIVITIES
Text—Hieroglyphs and Cuneiform
Writing is a crucial aspect of most of the world’s societ-
ies today. It can be an important theme or linkage around
which to develop deep learning for a semester-long course.
The following is one of a series of writing activities in this
instructor’s manual. For maximum impact, it would be
best to use all of them through the semester, discussing
with your students the changes and development of writ-
ing structures over time. In this fi rst activity, discuss the
idea of logographic writing systems, of which hieroglyphs
and cuneiform are two categories. Wikipedia’s informa-
tion on language development is excellent and forms a
good basis for further study. See:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Logographic_
writing _systems.
Most important for your students, explain the differ-
ence between ideograms and pictograms.
In this fi rst activity provide your students with mod-
eling clay and a stylus. Have the students shape the clay
into a small tablet and direct them to a hieroglyph alpha-
bet and a Sumerian cuneiform alphabet on the Web site.
You can devise styluses from skewers, reeds, or wooden
dowels. Have them write a word or words, using each al-
phabet on the clay tablet that they formed. Th is forces the
students to think about what kinds of words could actu-
ally be represented by ideograms and the disadvantages of
such a system. What other surfaces could have been used?
How much writing do they think would have been done?
What limitations did a scholar face? Ask students for ideas
on how they think these alphabets came into being. What
kind of people would have learned to write? What was
writing used for? Did people read for pleasure?
Trade
On page 57 of the textbook, there is a brief discussion of
trade practices. Surprisingly, students don’t think about
the fact that trade did not involve a common currency
and cash registers. They don’t consider the complexities of
bartering. As the textbook states, “City-states were bound
together through a common culture, intense trade, and a
shared environment” (p. 61). One way to have students
begin to understand the importance of trust in commu-
nities, dealing with traders one knew, rules in trade and
language, and other issues, is to have them try to trade
items. At the local dollar store, buy Mardi Gras beads or
gaudy children’s jewelry. (I use inexpensive brass candle-
sticks that I already own, silk and cotton scarves or rem-
nants of fabric, and small ethnic boxes if I have them.) You
can either pick two or three outgoing students and have
the rest of the class observe, or have all the students trade
with each other; it really depends on what you think you
can manage. Privately disperse the trade items with some
cautions as to their value. For example, you might provide
one student with a bag of grapes to trade. He is the fruit
seller, and what he has is very valuable. He is successful
in the town but not arrogant, he wants everyone to be
okay. Then you can create two or three other scenarios
with other students to show the rest of the class how bar-
tering might work. One can be a widow who sells scarves
she makes; she needs the grapes to feed her children. One
could be a stranger from outside of the village who has
very fi ne things to sell that the grape vendor wants. But the
stranger wants to sell on credit—his whole load for all of
the vendor’s grapes. He plans on going back to his village,
where there are no grapes, making a big profit and coming
right back to share the profit with the grape vendor. Water
 Chapter 2 Rivers, Cities, and First States, 4000–2000 bce ◆ 21
was sold in many of these areas, so a water seller would
be a relevant person to add. These are just some ideas;
there are many ways to show social norms. The point is to
engage your students in lessons in bartering. Have them
understand that there were still opportunities for “high fi-
nance,” just in different forms. Fixed prices were not appli-
cable; they were relative to the item and the need for that
item at the time. Remember that archaeological evidence
indicates that by this period, traders were traveling across
the Mediterranean and into the Persian Gulf region (p.
58). Your students need to consider what protocols were
in place to allow for trade among strangers.
Hero Stones
As an extension of your discussions on oral culture and
the development of texts, have your students look at the
hero stones from the Harappan civilization. These pro-
vide a fascinating window into what kinds of things the
Harappans considered important. It is important to note
fi rst that litt le was recorded of early Indian history. An-
cient Indians made great advances in astronomy, phys-
ics, mathematics, and literature and the arts, but they did
not methodically document their early history, at least
not in the way we consider documentation. The question
becomes how we gather the information that we do have.
Are there major themes found on the stones? Similar to
the Stone Age standing stones in Scandinavia, these are
thought to have been erected in the honor of a brave man
or woman who perished while defending the interests of
the village (perhaps while fighting bandits who attempted
to steal catt le, or invaders who abused women). By look-
ing at the hero stones you can also utilize the primary
source of Harappan script, chapter 2, that is of yet not
translated. Make panels of a hero stone available to stu-
dents; here are some links with enough visible panels to
make evaluations:
Four Panels of the Dodda-maluru hero stone
www.kamat.com/picturehouse/aperture/12012.htm
Images of the Dodda hundi hero stone
huntington.wmc.ohio-state.edu/public/index.cfm?fus
eaction=showTh isDetail&ObjectID=30033610
Multiple examples of hero stones
www.chennaimuseum.org/draft/gallery/01/04/stone.
htm
None of these images come with texts to provide the
full story; it was up to oral tradition, passed down over the
generations, to “fi ll in the blanks.” Your students must do
the same. Use one or more of these images to have your
students begin to think about historical analysis while
also looking at Harappan culture. For them to accurately
evaluate the stones, they have to understand the society.
For example, what class of people would have been al-
lowed to ride horses? What was the role of women? Th is
activity will work well with the lecture on Aryans. When
you begin to consider cultures such as the Vikings, you
can return to the hero stones to reinforce this lesson and
Viking culture, since they had similar modes of knowl-
edge transmission.
Games and Leisure Time
Unpacking the strategies, rules, and forms of games in
a culture offers a provocative view into that culture’s
point of view. In some instances you can trace cultural
transmission through games, as in the game of tali. Tali
is thought to have originated in Mesopotamia or Greece
and was then popularized in the later Roman Empire.
In Greece and Rome, people enjoyed a gambling game.
In both cultures the gods were viewed as uninterested
in the daily lives of humans, allowing people more free
will and independence. In such an environment games of
chance could flourish, and tali did, especially in Greece,
where it was played on a daily basis. The game was called
knucklebones, or tali, because the pieces, which appear
to be forerunners to dice, were made from the astragaloi,
or dried knucklebones, of sheep, goats, or young cows.
When the game became popular, people started making
tali from brass and other fi ner materials. The shape of an
astragalos is such that it can sit on one of four sides when
dropped. However, each side is different, so the statistical
chance of its landing on one side rather than another is
different—one side is flat, one concave and narrow, one
convex, and one concave and wide. Values were assigned
to each side, sometimes with the number carved into the
side. More often, people knew which side had which value.
The rules of the game are still not completely clear, nor
is it clear if everyone played the game or if only women
and children did. Chances are that tali was much like
cards, with multiple games or ways to play and with ev-
eryone playing. The type of game may have been dictated
by the players. Most images of tali players—and there are
many—show women playing. There are a few images of
men and children playing tali.
Independent of your direction, let the students play a
game of knucklebones. Have them follow the directions
provided on pages 23–24 then discuss the game. Guide
your students to understand what the game tells them
about the society. Since this appears to have been one of
the most popular games in ancient Greece, especially for
women, what do games of chance imply about Greece?
What other things people might have done in their leisure
22 ◆ Chapter 2 Rivers, Cities, and First States, 4000–2000 bce
time? What might this imply about people’s leisure time
and the fact that they had leisure time?
Although I have never been approached with this prob-
lem, it is always possible a student could fi nd participation
in an activity to be against their personal beliefs. My sug-
gestion is twofold. First, this is a history class, and what
the students are participating in is living history as a way
to expand their understanding of a particular time and
people. Doing so doesn’t require a shift ing of the student’s
personal beliefs or morals—it is merely a recounting of
historical fact. However, I generally set up my activities
by stations, so that at any one time the students have the
choice of participating in four out of five activities during
the class period. It creates a more efficient traffic flow and
use of time. Th is also eliminates any problems for a stu-
dent who is uncomfortable with a particular activity, and
your students aren’t placed in a potentially humiliating
situation.
To make the knucklebones, you will try to re-create the
shape of a sheep’s knuckle and make an object that will
roll well or land on all four sides. I used white Sculpey
because it is easy to form, and bakes to a good texture.
The white color recreates the color of bone very well. You
can mark the numbers into the bone before you bake it.
As you shape it, remember that “the convex narrow side,
called chios, or the dog, counts as 1; the convex broad side
3; the concave broad side 4; and the concave narrow side
6.” See:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Knucklebones
Wikipedia suggests other alternative rules that were
thought to be used for the game. Refer to the Devil’s Pic-
turebook Web site for excellent images of all sides of a
knucklebone so that you can reproduce the shape as ac-
curately as possible:
www.freewebs.com/devilspicturebook/tali.htm/
RECOMMENDED FILMS
■ Egypt: The Habit of Civilization (57 min.). Part of the
PBS Legacy series narrated by Michael Wood, this fi lm ac-
complishes two goals while recounting ancient Egyptian
history. It establishes the singular importance of pharaohs
in the development of Egypt, and it shows the influence
ancient Egypt had on the development of the Islamic and
Christian worlds. Th is is an excellent series, very acces-
sible, visually interesting, and historically relevant.
■ India: The Empire of the Spirit (55 min.). Another PBS
Legacy fi lm, this documentary narrated by Michael Wood
explores the influence that the ancient culture of India has
on our lives today. Focusing on the themes of tolerance,
multiculturalism, and spirituality, Wood travels across
India as he explains the historical relevance of the Harap-
pans and Aryans, the Mahabharata and the development
of Brahmanism, Hinduism, and the caste system—all in
light of their influence on today’s culture. If you stop the
fi lm at forty-five minutes, it ends before the takeover by
the Mughals, a logical end point in the fi lm.
■ China: Heritage of the Wild Dragon (59 min.). A Film
of the Humanities and Sciences production, this fi lm
provides a review of the early history of China using the
important loess soil of the Yellow River basin as its start-
ing point. The Yellow River is the location of China’s ear-
liest recorded dynasty. Most of the fi lm’s focus is on the
Bronze Age and the Shang dynasty, but it briefly draws on
the Qin dynasty and the excavation of the tomb of Qin
Shihuangdi with archival footage of its excavation.
■ Mesopotamia: I Have Conquered the River (59 min.).
Th is fi lm focuses on the Sumerian city-states and dis-
cusses important contributions such as the Code of
Hammurabi, cuneiform, and the Epic of Gilgamesh. Shot
completely on location, it provides vivid possibilities as to
how the Sumerians rose to such extraordinary power and
fell so completely. Th is fi lm would be useful to combine
with a comparison of the ancient law codes, discussions
of the creation myths, and/or a lecture on goddesses and
patriarchy.
■ Minoan Civilization (53 min.). This fascinating film ex-
pands on the archaeological discoveries of the Minoan
civilization from Evans forward. It highlights the dif-
ficulties scholars have had in reconstructing reasonable
theories about the lives of the Minoans at Knossos and
Phaistos on Crete and at Acrotiri on Santorini. The fi lm
includes a discussion of the Greek myths surrounding the
civilizations, you could use this fi lm in conjunction with
the class activity on the Minoans and Mycenaeans and
worldviews in chapter 3.
■ Wonders of the African World: Black Kingdoms of the Nile
and the Swahili Coast (120 min. in two 60-min. segments).
Th is fi lm is part of a series of six with an accompanying
book (see bibliography) and a useful Web site: www.pbs.
org/wonders/index.html. Henry Louis Gates Jr. narrates
this PBS documentary of his journey across Africa to ex-
plore the mostly untold history of the African continent.
He provides a fascinating juxtaposition of past and pres-
ent. For example, in “Black Kingdoms of the Nile,” he
takes viewers into Nubian pyramids to see the beauty of
their interiors and then on to the home of today’s Nubi-
ans, displaced by the Aswan Dam, showing the pyramids
 Chapter 2 Rivers, Cities, and First States, 4000–2000 bce ◆ 23
of Nubia and the Ark of the Covenant in Ethiopia. The
segments allow time to complete the fi lm and either dis-
cuss or draw the class to a logical close. The subsidiary
materials provided by PBS make this series useful at any
point. Since this text was only able to mention the king-
dom of the Kush, the Nubians, and Meröe, this fi lm opens
a window into a new and relevant part of many of our stu-
dents’ history.
■ Western Tradition, Part 1: The Dawn of History; Part 2:
The Ancient Egyptians; Part 3: Mesopotamia; Part 4: From
Bronze to Iron (1 hour, in 15-min. segments). The fi lms in
this series cross time from prehistory to modernity. They
are tapings of the eminent Eugen Weber lecturing with
occasional images from the Metropolitan Museum of
Art added to enhance a point. Each video is in four parts,
each approximately fi fteen minutes long. These are terri-
bly dull; however the material is succinct, accurate, and
well organized. They provide a remarkably efficient way
to inform your students on essential information that you
can augment with different learning methods to reinforce
the fi lm. They can be very useful if you use them judi-
ciously. Part I traces the development of humanity from
our ancient ancestors to the agricultural revolution. Part
II shows the importance of irrigation to the development
of Egyptian civilization. Part III is a general assessment
of the early people groups in the Fertile Crescent, while
Part IV uses the metalworking of the empires of Assyria,
Persia, and Neo-Babylonia to show how tools revolution-
ized societies.
RECOMMENDED READING
Enrico Ascalone, 2007. Mesopotamia: Assyrians,
Sumerians, Babylonians.
Charles Freeman, 2004. Egypt, Greece and Rome:
Civilizations of the Ancient Mediterranean.
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., 2001. Wonders of the Afr ican
World.
Jonathan Hall. A History of the Archaic Greek World: Ca.
1200–479 bce
Jonathan Mark Kenoyer, 2001. Ancient Cities of the Indus
Valley Civilization.
J. A Macgillivray, 2000. Minotaur: Sir Arthur Evans and
the Archaeology of the Minoan Myth.
Bill Manley, 1997. The Penguin Historical Atlas of Ancient
Egypt.
Samuel Mark, 2006. From Egypt to Mesopotamia: A Study
of Predynastic Trade Routes.
Bett y De Shong Meador, 2001. Inanna, Lady of Largest
Heart: Poems of the Sumerian High.
Stephen G. Miller, 2004. Ancient Greek Athletics.
Donald B. Redford, 2005. From Slave to Pharaoh: The
Black Experience of Ancient Egypt.
Robert L. Thorp, 2005. China in the Early Bronze Age:
Shang Civilization.
Marc Va Mieroop, 1999. Cuneiform Texts and the Writing
of History.
WEB SITES
Ancient Mesopotamia at the University of Chicago Museum
The Learning Collection and artifact images are
particularly useful
mesopotamia.lib.uchicago.edu/
The Archaeological Site of Harappa
www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/archaeology/sites/asia/
harappa.html
Creation Myths
Use with Lecture Ideas on creation myths
www.magictails.com/creationlinks.html
Egypt: Gift of the Nile
www.seatt leartmuseum.org/exhibit/archive/egypt/
default.htm
The Golden Age of Chinese Archaeology
www.nga.gov/exhibitions/chbro_intro.shtm
Harappa
An amazing site, very visual
www.harappa.com/
Internet Ancient History Sourcebook: Mesopotamia
Very useful for primary documents
www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/asbook03.html
Knossos: The Palace of King Minos (and links to Minoan
history)
Excellent images and rendering of palace as it would have
been
www.daedalus.gr/DAEI/THEME/Knossos.htm
McClung Museum: Ancient Egypt
mcclungmuseum.utk.edu/permex/egypt/egypt.htm
Mesopotamia: The British Museum
Excellent interactive maps
www.mesopotamia.co.uk/menu.html
Pyramids: The Inside Story (PBS Nova)
www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/pyramid/
24 ◆ Chapter 2 Rivers, Cities, and First States, 4000–2000 bce

The Near East Description Example Name and/or points

A compendium of primary texts with comparisons and
All four sides face up are (1,3,4,6) Venus
study questions different
eawc.evansville.edu/nepage.htm All four sides face up are the (6,6,6,6) Vulture
same
All four sides face up are the (1,1,1,1) Dogs (the lowest
INSTRUCTIONS FOR TALI, USING same but they are all ones vulture you can get)
FOUR KNUCKLEBONES One six and any other (6,2,2,2) Senio
numbers that are the same
Game 1—Most likely played by children
(6,6,6,3) 21
The object is to throw the four tali into the air and catch (6,6,4,4) 20
as many of them as you can on the back of your hand. The (6,6,6,1) 19 (high)
person able to do this with the fewest throws wins. Since Achieving this combination of (6,6,4,3) 19
this is almost impossible without a tremendous amount points is not as valuable as
of practice you might consider modifying the game and three sixes and a one
counting the number of tali you can catch on the back of Other possible combinations (6,6,3,3) 18
your hand in three throws before moving on to the next are the total points on the dice
person. Or play it like jacks: Th row a stone into the air and (6,6,4,1) 17
scoop up as many of the scattered tali as you can while still (6,6,3,1) 16
catching the stone. (4,4,4,3) 15
(6,6,1,1) 14 (high)

Game 2—For adults Achieving this combination of (4,4,3,3) 14

points is not as valuable as
There are multiple versions of this gambling game; how- two sixes and two ones
ever, this seemed to be one of the most common. Drop the (4,4,4,1) 13
four dice from a reasonable height onto a level surface, ei- (4,4,3,1) 12
ther the ground or some type of table. Add up the points (4,3,3,1) 11
according to the table below with the Venus, Senio, and (4,4,1,1) 10 (high)
Vultures having precedence over any scores. Achieving this combination of (3,3,3,1) 10
points is not as valuable as
two fours and two ones
(4,3,1,1) 9
(3,3,1,1) 8
(4,1,1,1) 7
(3,1,1,1) 6
CH A PTER 3

Nomads, Territorial States, and

Microsocieties, 2000–1200 bce

▶ Nomadic Movement and the Emergence of Territorial
States
Nomadic and Transhumant Migrations
Horses and Chariots
Pastoral Nomads, Herders, and Trade
The Emergence of Territorial States
▶ The Rise of Territorial States in Southwest Asia and
North Africa
Egypt
Anatolia and the Rise of the Hitt ites
The Iranian Plateau and the Elamites
Mesopotamia
Nomadic and Transhumant Migration to
Mesopotamian Cities
Restored Order and Culture
Trade and the Rise of a Private Economy
Mesopotamian Kingdoms
Kassite Rule
The Community of Major Power (1400–1200 bce)
▶ Nomads and the Indus River Valley
Drought Hit Indus River Valley
Vedic People Migrated from Indus Valley
▶ Rise of the Shang State (1600–1045 bce)
State Formation
Metalworking, Agriculture, and Tribute
Shang Society and Beliefs
The Development of Writing in China
▶ The South Pacific (2500 bce–400 ce)
People Migrated from the Mainland of East Asia for
Opportunities and Refuge
▶ The Aegean in the Second Millennium bce
Seaborne Trade and Communication
Minoan Culture
Mycenaean Culture
▶ Europe—The Northern Frontier
Frontier Sett lements Remained Sparsely Populated
▶ Early States in the Americas
Some Evidence of Early State Systems That Were
Confederations of Towns

LECTURE OUTLINE important throughout those areas. Culture, beliefs, lan-

guage, and technology spread through those exchanges.
Around 2000 bce large-scale droughts occurred, leading
to subsistence crises in much of Afro-Eurasia. The drought I. Introduction
pushed transhumant herders and nomads out of their tra- A. Big river-basin states collapsed around 2000
ditional patterns toward the riverine cultures. The search bce
for resources and eventual takeovers led to new socio-po- 1. Environmental problems
litical organizations. The rise of territorial states in South- a. Overuse of agricultural lands
west Asia and North Africa make up a large part of this b. Earth going through drying cycle
chapter. Technologies learned from migrants, especially (global warming)
the domestication of horses and the chariot, revolution- B. Most of Afro-Eurasia suffered food shortages
ized warfare. The rise of the Shang State in China is also C. Transhumant herders raided fi xed sett lements
covered. Significant in many of the cultures that emerged for resources
during the second millennium bce are systems of writ- D. Urban centers faced political crisis
ing. Not all regions developed large centralized states: the E. Parts of great cultures remained
South Pacific, the islands of the Aegean, Northern Europe, 1. Writing
and the Americas remained more diff used. Trade was still 2. Ideologies of kingships

25
26 ◆ Chapter 3 Nomads, Territorial States, and Microsocieties, 2000–1200 bce

3. Architecture a. Lived closer to city-states and riverine

4. Skill at metalworking society
5. Forms of transportation b. Moved from lowland to highland areas
F. Nomadic and sett led communities exchanged with livestock, depending on season
beliefs and customs 3. Climate and landscape affected both
G. New round of expansion and growth into larger groups
territorial states a. Drought affected nomads and
1. Mesopotamia transhumant migrants
2. Egypt b. Groups searched for water and pastures
3. Indus River valley for livestock
4. North China plain c. Many migrated to the highland plateaus
H. Small-scale micro-states formed in other parts that border inner Eurasian steppe lands
of the world d. Continued to more densely populated
1. Pacific islanders river valleys and competed with farming
2. Aegean basin communities for space and resources
3. Americas i. Amorites moved to southern
Mesopotamia from Syrian desert
II. Nomadic Movement and the Emergence of ii. Indo-European-speaking steppe
Territorial States peoples migrated into Anatolia and
A. Environmental change led to the collapse of eastern Europe
power of kings and the ruling elite in central e. New arrivals opened up land for
and western Afro-Eurasia tribesmen
1. Walled cities could not defend hinterlands i. More immigrants arrived by foot
2. Trade routes lay open to predators and on wagons
3. Equestrian clans of pastoral nomads from f. Nomadic people spread out across much
the inner Eurasian steppes attack sett led of Afro-Eurasia
communities i. Brought horses
4. Transhumant herders from the Iranian ii. Technologies to make war
plateau raided sett led communities for food iii. Religious practices and language
and resources iv. New pressure on local resources
B. Environmental conditions forced humans g. Migration caused major changes in the
throughout Afro-Eurasia to adapt cultural landscape and geography in
1. Pastoral nomads and transhumant herders western Afro-Eurasia
adjusted more quickly 4. Some migration took place by sea
2. Provided the historic catalyst for the rise of a. Greek people migrated to eastern
new, localized territorial states Mediterranean islands
a. Pharaonic Egypt b. Austronesians left east Asia to island-
b. Mesopotamia hop in the Pacific using large sea
c. Vedic South Asia canoes
d. Shang China 5. Nomads linked disparate cities and towns
3. Used chariots and introduced forms of of South Asia and China linked by tribal
warfare clan relations and trade
4. New states produced changes in society a. Used force to control trade and
and government that allowed humans to maintain peace
survive climate change and thrive b. Could not control how history would be
C. Nomadic and transhumant migrations written
1. Pastoral nomads 6. Literate elites described the conquestors as
a. Rode horses across steppe lands of inner “barbaric” and inhuman
and central Eurasia 7. “Barbarian” label stuck but is not
b. Herded a wide variety of livestock historically accurate
c. Perpetually in motion a. Nomads and transhumant herders
d. Covered tremendous area brought inventions and ideas adapted by
2. Transhumant migrants sett led peoples
 Chapter 3 Nomads, Territorial States, and Microsocieties, 2000–1200 bce ◆ 27
D. Horses and chariots
1. Horse fi rst domesticated in late fourth
millennium bce in steppes of Caucasus
Mountains
2. Headgear developed for controlling
horse’s speed and direction in late third
millennium bce
a. Tombs of nomads reveal evolution of
horse headgear
3. Around 2000 bce a one-axle, two-wheel
vehicle developed
4. Pastoral people borrowed transportation
techniques to make chariots light enough
to be pulled by horses
a. Spoked wheels required special wood
and carpentry skills
b. Wheel covers, axles, and bearings were
produced by sett led people
c. Movable parts made of bronze and later
iron
i. Iron preferred because of hardness
and flexibility
5. Horse-drawn chariots combined ideas and
skills of both nomadic and agrarian peoples
6. Horse-drawn chariot shortened time
between capitals and changed warfare
a. Slow-moving infantry gave way to
battalions of chariots
b. Each chariot carried a driver and an
archer
c. Mobility, accuracy, and shooting power
of warriors made them more powerful
than large-state armies
d. For 600 years, chariot warfare
dominated war from Greece to China
e. Only with the advent of cheaper armor
after 1000 bce in China did foot
soldiers regain their importance
f. Elite copied nomads’ chariots
i. Tutankhamen (c. 1350 bce) buried
with chariot
ii. Horse-drawn chariots also found
in tombs of Shang kings in China
E. Pastoral nomads, herders, and trade
1. Lowland pasture land on periphery of cities
in riverine societies
a. Herders traded surplus meat and animal
products for items from city artisans
b. When supplies unavailable because of
environment or politics, herders raided
cities to get what they needed
c. Droughts pushed them to move herds
closer to riverine cities
2. Horse-riding nomads from steppes ranged
more widely
a. Some engaged in long-distance trade
b. Moved on horse or camel and carried
prestige goods
i. Goods included stone, textiles,
metals, and silver
ii. Raided or charged for protection of
caravans
iii. Archeological evidence points to
important trade contributions
F. The emergence of territorial states
1. Power reached from cities to distant
hinterlands
a. Great centralized kingdoms organized
around charismatic rulers
b. People felt allegiance to their territories,
rulers, language, and ethnicity
c. Identifiable borders
2. New territorial states in Egypt and
Mesopotamia gained authority
a. Divine monarchs
b. Large and widely dispersed
bureaucracies
c. Elaborate and widely administered legal
code
d. Large territorial expanses
e. Defi nable borders
f. Plans for continuous expansion
3. New political models replace competition
and coexistence
4. Rulers created large-scale territorial
states—governable zones
a. People identified themselves as
belonging within territorial limits and
against “others”
b. Welcomed the return of “government”
i. Restored and upheld order
ii. Formal laws or codes
c. Good king was one who could
command respect of neighboring states
and bring security to his subjects
d. Often upheaval came with expansion
and often brought security and
innovation
5. Ecological and demographic upheavals
contributed to creation of new territorial
states
6. East Asia and Americas did not experience
same developments
a. Fewer emerging states meant less rivalry
7. High-density states led to constant
conquest and larger territorial states
28 ◆ Chapter 3 Nomads, Territorial States, and Microsocieties, 2000–1200 bce
a. Political map showed specific areas tied
to different sovereign authorities
III. The Rise of Territorial States in Southwest Asia and
North Africa
A. Five great territorial states of Southwest Asia
and North Africa
1. Egyptians—eastern Mediterranean and
Palestine
2. Hitt ites—Anatolia
3. Mitanni—Syria and northern
Mesopotamia
4. Kassites—southern Mesopotamia
5. Middle Elamites—southwestern Iranian
plateau
B. Egypt
1. Drought brought instability to Old
Kingdom
a. Harvests withered
b. Pharaohs lost legitimacy
c. Regional power took place of a
centralized state
2. Middle Kingdom Egypt (2040–1640 bce)
a. Floodwaters returned to normal
b. Rulers in Thebes consolidated power
c. Tamed rivals and coopted pretenders
d. New phase of stability
3. Gods and kings
a. Twelft h Dynasty (1991–1783 bce)
dominated Middle Kingdom
b. Amenemhet I (1991–1962 bce) elevated
god Amun
i. Name meant “hidden”
c. Believers embraced Amun because
att ributes were largely hidden
d. Cult of Amun helped unify kingdom
e. Amun eclipsed all other gods of Thebes
i. Amun-Re
f. Cult of Amun had a strong spiritual
impact on pharaoh and society
4. Royal splendor and royal care
a. Built largest and longest-lasting public
works
b. For 2,000 years slaves and captives built
massive temple complex at Thebes to
Amun-Re
c. Pharaohs reasserted power
i. Cult of the pharaoh as good
shepherd
ii. Instituted charities
iii. Offered homage to gods at palace
to ensure annual flooding
iv. Performed ritual ceremonies
5. Merchants and trade networks
a. Rising urban class of merchants and
professionals
b. Not dependent on kings for benefits
c. Outfitted their own tombs with material
goods
d. Trade networks expanded
i. Wood, especially cedar from
Byblos
ii. Precious metals, ivory, livestock,
slaves, exotic animals
iii. Built forts to protect trade
6. Hyksos invaders and new foundations
a. Open to migration and foreign
invasion
b. Commercial success att racted pastoral
nomads seeking work
c. Amorite people from drought-ridden
Syrian desert absorbed into Egyptian
society
d. Hyksos destabilized and then
assimilated into Egyptian society
e. Ahmosis in the south overthrew Hyksos
and became the rulers
f. Rulers learned to be cautious of borders
and use diplomacy to dominate eastern
Mediterranean world
g. Migrants and invaders introduced new
ideas and techniques
i. Bronze work
ii. Improved potter’s wheel
iii. Vertical loom
iv. New animals and foods
v. Weapons of war
h. New weapons transformed Egyptian
army from a standing infantry to a high-
speed mobile one
i. Egyptian armies stretched the
kingdom
7. New Kingdom Egypt (1550–1070 bce)
a. Interests were projected outward
i. Expanded south to Nubia for
resources
b. Hatshepsut expanded Egypt during her
reign
c. Hatshepsut served as regent for her son
Thutmosis III
i. Expanded trade to Levant,
Mediterranean, and Nubia
d. Thutmosis III (r. 1479–1425 bce)
continued expansion
 Chapter 3 Nomads, Territorial States, and Microsocieties, 2000–1200 bce ◆ 29
i. Batt le of Megiddo (1469 bce), the
fi rst recorded chariot batt le
ii. Thutmosis III defeated vassals of
Mitanni
C. Anatolia and the rise of the Hitt ites
1. Overland crossroads between Black and
Mediterranean seas
a. Many large herding societies and clans
made their home there
b. Lived in fortified sett lements and
engaged in regional warfare
2. The Old and New Hitt ite Kingdoms
(1800–1200 bce)
a. Chariot aristocracies thrived on
commercial activity
b. Great territorial state
c. Plundered and conquered
neighbors
i. Taxed and collected tribute
d. Hatt usilis I united chariot
aristocracies
i. Campaigned throughout Anatolia
and defeated resistance
ii. Sacked Babylon in 1595 bce
iii. Could not control homelands and
new territory
iv. Withdrew from Mesopotamia and
left a power vacuum
e. King Suppiluimua I (r. 1380–1345 bce)
regained power
f. Hitt ites eventually controlled much of
middle ground between Mesopotamia
and the Nile
D. The Iranian plateau and the Elamites
1. Change in climate led to migration onto
the Iranian plateau
2. With help of people from the Zagros
Mountains, Elamites ended the Th ird
Dynasty of Ur in 2004 bce
3. Elamites and Amorites joined to form new
dynasties in southern Mesopotamia
4. Other groups also moved onto the Iranian
plateau
a. Indo-Iranian-speaking Medes and
Persians
E. Mesopotamia
1. Drought damaged Mesopotamia and the
Iranian plateau at the end of the third
millennium bce
a. Harvests were small
b. The price of basic goods rose
c. Social order broke down
d. Towns in southern Mesopotamia were
invaded by transhumant peoples from
the Zagros Mountains and Syrian desert
2. Other environmental changes altered the
human landscape
a. Intense cultivation
b. Periods of severe drought
c. Rich soil depleted of nutrients
d. Salt water from Persian Gulf
contaminated water table
e. Branch of Euphrates River shifted to
west and overtook arable land
3. Environmental changes pushed the
political and economic centers north
a. Amorite pastoralists founded the city of
Babylon in 1830 bce
4. Nomadic and transhumant migration to
Mesopotamian cities
a. Urbanites called the transhumant
herders from the Arabian Desert
Amorites
b. “Amorites” comes from Amurru, the
Akkadian word for “west”
c. Amorites generic name for all
transhumant groups from western
desert
d. City dwellers did not think much of
these new rustic migrants
e. “Foreigners” in the city but not
unknown people
i. During winters the herders had
lived by the cities and the rivers to
water their animals
ii. Traded wool, leather, bones, and
tendons with urban artisans for
fi nished goods
iii. Paid taxes, served as warriors and
laborers on public-works projects
iv. Migrant workers still had few
political rights within city-states
f. Scarcity of resources because of drought
led the Elamites and Amorites to
conquer the city of Ur and set up new
order
5. Restored order and culture
a. Restored order and prosperity enabled
new kings to support intellectual and
creative activities
b. The court supported skilled artisans and
schools for scribes
c. Babylonians drew on earlier
Mesopotamian achievements
30 ◆ Chapter 3 Nomads, Territorial States, and Microsocieties, 2000–1200 bce
i. Studied the oral tales and written
records of Sumerians and
Akkadians
ii. Scribes transcribed the ancient
texts and preserved tradition
iii. Royal hymns portrayed the king as
a legendary hero
d. Narratives about ancient founders gave
legitimacy to new rulers
e. Great poems written in the Babylonian
dialect of the Semitic Akkadian
language
i. Identified the history of a people
with king
ii. Stories circulated widely and
unified the kingdom
iii. Most famous was the Epic of
Gilgamesh
6. Trade and the rise of a private economy
a. Economy became more private,
entrepreneurially based
i. Private entrepreneurs collected
taxes in commodities
ii. Commodities were turned into
silver and shared between collector
and state
iii. Gain in private and state wealth
b. Labor moved away from impressment to
contract work
i. Workers no longer employed year
round
ii. Agriculture workers shared crops
iii. Growing destitute and
disenfranchised underclass
c. Mesopotamia was a crossroads for
overland caravans traveling east and
west
i. Peace helped trade flourish
ii. Donkey caravans transported
goods over long distances
d. Sea routes were used for trade with the
Indus Valley
i. Many of the waterways charted by
2000 bce
ii. Shipbuilders designed larger and
larger ships
iii. Shipbuilding materials came from
all over the region
iv. Reliance on imported materials
was part of a more general growth
of regional economic specialization
e. Doing business in Mesopotamia was
profitable but risky
i. Poor harvests led to reduced taxes
and debts
ii. Caravans could be lost to hostile
peoples
iii. Taxes, duties, and bribes had to be
paid to ensure safe passage
f. To reduce risk, merchant households
came up with new techniques
i. Formalized commercial rules
ii. Established early insurance
schemes
iii. Extended kinship networks
iv. Formed strong ties to political
authorities
g. Mesopotamian kingdoms
i. Amorites used tribal and clan
traditions to support ruling
territorial states
ii. New model of statecraft
a. Chieftains became kings
b. Mesopotamian kings turned
authority to an alliance with
merchants for revenue and
support
c. Royal state became hereditary
iii. Rulers continued to expand
territories
iv. Weapons and war techniques
necessary to gain dominance but
needed a charismatic leader as well
v. Mesopotamian kingdoms’ power
ebbed and flowed, depending on
the strength of the ruler
h. Most famous Mesopotamian ruler was
Hammurapi (Hammurabi, r. 1792–1750
bce)
i. Sought to centralize state authority
and create a new legal order
ii. Modeled his image after the
Egyptian pharaohs of the Middle
Kingdom—shepherd and patriarch
of his people
iii. Created Hammurapi’s Code
a. Compilation of 300 edicts
that describes crime and
punishment
b. Offered rules for how the
“family” should operate
c. Code divided inhabitants
into three classes: freemen,
dependent men, and slaves
d. Code pacified the region and
stratified society
 Chapter 3 Nomads, Territorial States, and Microsocieties, 2000–1200 bce ◆ 31
iv. After his death, his descendants
ruled for another 155 years before
Babylon was sacked by the Hitt ite
king Hatt usilis I in 1595 bce
i. Kassite rule
i. Came from Zagros Mountains and
across Iranian plateau to Babylon
around 2000 bce
ii. Over time, integrated themselves
into Babylonian society as
bureaucrats
iii. Filled power vacuum when Hitt ites
destroyed Babylon
iv. By 1475 bce Kassites reestablished
order and ruled for next 350
years
v. Focus on trade rather than warfare
vi. Scribes preserved ancient
Babylonian texts
a. Preserved a Babylonian creation
myth called Enuma Elish
7. The Community of major powers (1400–
1200 bce)
a. Five great territorial states established
an interregional system based on
balance of power
i. Learned to sett le differences
through diplomacy
b. In Syria and Palestine, lesser states
centered on single cities still existed
i. Jerusalem
ii. Byblos
iii. Damascus
iv. Ugarit
v. Aleppo
c. Small states as vassals of larger
territories helped maintain balance of
power
d. International system of diplomacy
created
i. Letter cache found at Tell
el-‘Amârna reveals how diplomacy
was carried out
ii. Treaties, marriages, exchange of
specialized personnel, and gift s all
played roles
e. International relations led to the
creation of an elite cosmopolitan
merchant and political class
i. Spoke Akkadian dialect
ii. Used fortunes to erect buildings,
decorate tombs, and consume
material goods
f. State still vulnerable to unhappy
commoners who could not pay taxes
IV. Nomads and the Indus River Valley
A. Drought hit Indus River Valley
1. Vedic people migrated around 1500 bce to
Indus River valley
a. Called themselves Aryans, or “respected
ones”
b. Spoke Sanskrit
2. Brought domesticated animals, especially
horses
a. Horses drew chariots and gave Vedic
superior military
3. Brought elaborate rituals for worshipping
gods
B. Vedic peoples and indigenous peoples
exchanged language and customs
C. Vedic people migrated from Indus Valley
1. Each wave of occupation was accompanied
by violence
2. Adapted farming skills and knowledge of
seasonal weather
a. Moved into huts constructed from mud,
bamboo, and reeds
b. Refi ned production of carnelian stone
beads
c. Devised standard weights for trade
d. Planted wheat, rye, and rice
e. Mastered the use of plows with iron
blades
D. Turn to sett led agriculture from pastoralism
1. Combined traits from the steppe lands
with indigenous ways
V. Rise of the Shang state (1600–1045 bce)
A. Around 1600 bce, the Shang territorial state
emerged
1. Shang developed foundation myths to
unify state
a. Stories collected in the “Bamboo
Annals”
b. Tang, fi rst ruler of the Shang dynasty,
defeated Xia king
c. Tang ruled justly and morally, uniting
his people
2. Shang state was not so clearly defi ned
geographically as territorial kingdoms of
Southwest Asia
a. No territorial state encroached on its
peripheries
b. Capital moved as territory expanded
c. Relative security allowed for kings to
rule in a highly personal way
32 ◆ Chapter 3 Nomads, Territorial States, and Microsocieties, 2000–1200 bce
d. Shang rulers used metallurgy and
writing to reinforce rule
i. Ancestor worship
ii. Divination
iii. Other rituals
B. State formation
1. Shang state grew out of the small
agricultural and riverine village cultures of
the Longshan people, who had introduced
elements of a state
a. Metal industry based on copper
b. Pottery making
c. Standardized architectural forms and
walled towns
d. Divination using animal bones
2. Shang dynasty added other elements
a. A lineage of hereditary rulers whose
power was based on ancestors and gods
b. Written records
c. Tribute
d. Elaborate rituals that enabled them to
commune with ancestors and foretell
the future
3. Shang dynasty got name from location,
temple, and city
a. Expanded borders using horses and
chariots
i. Horses and chariots came by way
of nomadic contacts
4. Several other states developed between
1500 and 1300 bce
a. Shang traded with the “Fang” states
(non-Shang)
b. Shang state never as centralized as
Egypt or Babylon
5. Historian Sima Qian (c. 145–86 bce)
claimed the Shang capital moved six times
6. Shang’s golden-age capital at Yin
a. Close to metal resources for making
bronze
b. Erected massive palaces, royal
neighborhoods, and bronze foundries
c. State supported artisan workshops
d. State collected tribute from
surrounding farmlands
e. Promoted writing by scribes and
production by common artisans
C. Metalworking, agriculture, and tribute
1. Small-scale metalworking fi rst happened in
northwestern China
2. Both copper and tin readily available, so
only short-distance trade needed
3. Shang used their access to metals to control
neighbors
a. Made weapons, fitt ings for chariots, and
ritual vessels
b. Used hollow clay molds
c. Cast parts and assembled huge objects
i. Anyang tombs held vessels
weighing 1,925 lbs (873 kgs.) some
over 3,500 lbs (1,588 kgs.)
4. Bronze culture emerged in second
millennium bce
a. Mining
b. Efficient casting
c. Reproducible artistic style
d. Artists valued; miners treated as tribute
laborers
5. Shang kings stopped rivals from forging
bronze weapons
a. Control of bronze led to stronger
military
b. Royal feats depicted on bronze vessels
i. Batt les
ii. Weddings
iii. Births of heirs
iv. Divine acts
6. Agriculture also important in maintaining
power
a. Rulers controlled own farms for food for
royal family
b. New technologies led to rise in food
production
i. Opened up more land by draining
low-lying fields or forests
ii. Farm tools such as stone plows,
spades, and sickles
iii. Cultivated silkworms and other
animals
iv. Tracked growing seasons
v. Shang developed twelve-month
calendar
7. Wealth and power of rulers depended on
tribute from elites and allies
a. Elites supplied warriors, laborers,
horses, and catt le
b. Allies sent valuable goods and assisted
king
c. Commoners sent tribute to the elite,
who held land as fiefs from king
d. Commoners also made labor (corvée)
payments
e. Tribute could also be turtle shells or
catt le scapulas used for divination
 Chapter 3 Nomads, Territorial States, and Microsocieties, 2000–1200 bce ◆ 33
D. Shang society and beliefs
1. Complex social structure emerged
2. Organizing principle was a patrilineal
ideal
a. Descent was traced back to common
male ancestor
3. Property held in common
4. Male family elders took precedence
5. Women married into husband’s family
a. Won honor for bearing sons
6. Death rituals reflected social hierarchy
a. Humans sacrificed to accompany elites
to afterlife
b. Inclusion of slaves and servants shows
that hierarchy expected an afterlife
c. Economy not slave-based but based on
tribute labor of commoners
7. Shang state patrimonial theocracy
a. Ruler gained authority through
ancestors and gods
b. Needed a way to communicate with
ancestors
i. Divined through cracks in burned
animal bones
ii. Cracks were interpreted and
scribes inscribed queries on the
bones
c. Shang writing began as a dramatic ritual
performance
8. Shang ruler head of a unified clergy
a. No independent priesthood as in Egypt
or Mesopotamia
b. Diviners and scribes subservient to
ruler
c. Ancestor worship sanctified Shang
control and legitimized the lineage of
rulers
9. Shang gods were ancestral deities
a. Shang rulers were deified when they
died
b. Primary Shang deity was Di, the High
God (Shangdi), founder of Shang
dynasty
c. Shang ruler who became a god was
closer to the world of humans than
Egyptian or Mesopotamian gods
E. The development of writing in China
1. Shang scholars perfected writing
a. Oracle bones primary evidence for
Chinese early writing
b. Other forms of writing may not have
survived
c. Accidents of preservation may be why
China and Southwest Asia differ in
types of ancient texts
2. Oracle bones and bronzes show Shang
surpassed other states in ability to leave
records
a. Did not extend to the writing of
literature
3. Shang kings used writing to reinforce
position at the top of royal hierarchy
4. Priests used writings to address the “other
world” and predict the future
a. Divinations were especially used for
predicting rainfall
5. Many rituals and bureaucratic routines
depended on writing
6. Archaic script evolved into the preclassical
script, which was a precursor to the formal
character-based system used in China,
Japan, Korea, and Vietnam
VI. The South Pacific (2500 bce–400 ce)
A. People migrated from the mainland of East
Asia for opportunities and refuge
1. Languages in Taiwan, the Philippines, and
Indonesia had origins in South China
2. Several waves of migration
3. By 2000 bce migrants had replaced the
Negritos, the earlier inhabitants
i. Negritos had left Asian continent
around 28,000 bce when the
Pacific Islands were still
connected
4. Used double-outrigger canoes, 60 to 100
feet long, with triangular sails, to cross
Taiwan Straits
i. Vessels major advance over dugout
canoes
ii. Could travel 120 miles in a day
iii. Used a stabilization device for
deep-sea sailing
5. By 400 ce, migrants had reached most of
the South Pacific
B. Sailing skills enabled the Austronesians to
monopolize trade
1. Specialized craft workers included potters
from the Lapita culture who made Lapita
pottery
2. Canoe-building people were interisland
traders
C. Pottery, stone tools, and domesticated crops
and pigs characterize Austronesian sett lements
34 ◆ Chapter 3 Nomads, Territorial States, and Microsocieties, 2000–1200 bce
1. Cultural markers are spread throughout
Pacific islands
2. On some islands, the migrants failed to
reach the interior and indigenous Negritos
still survived
D. South Pacific islands’ climate and soil provide
good places to raise crops
1. Austronesians successfully raised crops
a. Dry crops (yams and sweet potatoes)
b. Irrigated crops (yams)
c. Tree crops (breadfruit, bananas,
coconuts)
2. Other islands such as Indonesia provided
maritime resources
3. Island-hopping led to new food sources
E. Polynesians, “belonging to many islands,”
shared a common culture, language, and
technology, as well as domesticated plants and
animals
1. Crop surpluses allowed for larger
populated communities
2. Larger communities supported craft
specialists and soldiers
3. Almost every sett lement created
ceremonial buildings to promote unity
4. Politically, Polynesian communities
ranged from tribes to multi-island
alliances
F. In 200 ce, Austronesians reached the
Marquesas Islands in Central Pacific
1. Migrated from there to Easter Island and
Hawaii, later Madagascar
a. On Easter Island, they built 30-ton
stone structures
b. Brought bananas to East Africa
G. Even with trade, the archipelagos remained
apart from mainland culture
VII. The Aegean in the Second Millennium bce
A. No central government emerged probably
because of the geography, which resembled that
of the South Pacific
1. No large regime to collapse with the
droughts that came
2. Enjoyed gradual development during
second millennium bce
3. Absorbed influences through trade from
Southwest Asia, Africa, and Europe
4. Many migrants from the north moved into
area—some peaceable, some violent
5. One group named the Mycenaeans, after
palace at Mycenae
a. Looked to sea for resources and
interactions with neighbors
B. Seaborne trade and communication
1. Many influences to Aegean world came by
water from Southwest Asia
2. Trade was the main bearer of eastern
influences
3. Trade centered on tin and copper
C. Cyprus, the largest island in the eastern
Mediterranean, became the center of trade
1. Had large reserves of copper ore shipped
out to Crete, Mari, and Egypt
2. English word copper derived from
“Cyprus”
D. Crete active trade hub in the Mediterranean
1. Around 2000 bce, many large palace
centers emerged at Knossos and elsewhere
2. People named Minoans, after legendary
King Minos
3. Traded and colonized around Aegean
4. Minoans’ wealth led to takeover by
Mycenaeans in 1400 bce
E. Minoan culture
1. Small-scale monumental architecture
echoed Southwest Asian examples
a. Palace complexes built between 1900
and 1600 bce
i. Knossos most impressive example
2. Religion differed from those of other
mainland cultures
a. Island worship focused on a female
deity, “the Lady”
b. No large-scale temple complexes
c. No priestly class
d. Debate over whether there were full-
time scribes
3. Complex development on some islands
a. Thera had large private houses with
bathrooms
i. Toilets, running water, and exotic
wall paintings
b. Palaces in Crete had litt le defense and
were light and airy
F. Mycenaean culture
1. Migrated from central Europe to Greece
between 1850 and 1600 bce
2. Brought Indo-European language, horse-
drawn chariots, and metalworking skills
3. Came to dominate the indigenous
population
4. Used their chariots to dominate
a. Chariot stories described in epic poetry
 Chapter 3 Nomads, Territorial States, and Microsocieties, 2000–1200 bce ◆ 35
5. Mycenaean population centers oriented
toward war and confl ict
a. Less-refi ned material culture than
Minoan
b. Emphasized displays of weaponry,
portraits of armed soldiers, and
illustration of violent confl ict
c. Tiryns and Mycenae were huge
fortresses of warlords
6. Mycenaeans took their vast wealth to their
graves
a. Tombs contained gold vessels and gold
masks
7. Mycenaean society hierarchical
a. Ruler
b. Bureaucratic hierarchy
c. Subordinates with some slaves
d. Scribes at center of palace life
8. Mycenaean expansion spread, uniting the
dispersed cultures around the Aegean Sea
9. At end of the second millennium bce,
large-scale internal and external confl icts
ended the heyday of microsocieties
a. Violent migrations
b. New social order began to emerge
VIII. Europe—The Northern Frontier
A. Sett led agriculture accepted only gradually
B. Frontier sett lements remained sparsely
populated
1. Unstable and too weak to instigate or
sustain long-distance trade.
C. Used techniques of plant and animal
domestication to establish self-sufficient
communities, not large-scale, hierarchal
societies
D. Two significant changes in the northern
frontier zone
1. Domestication of the horse
2. Emergence of wheeled chariots and wagons
3. Both became instruments of war
E. Constant struggle between hunter-gatherers
and nomadic horse riders created a strong
warrior ethos
1. Male smoking and drinking rituals
developed
F. Europe remained a place of war making and
small chiefships
IX. Early States in the Americas
A. Lack of domesticated animals and beasts of
burden limited trade to luxuries and symbolic
trade goods
B. Some evidence of early state systems that were
confederations of towns
1. Not well integrated like territorial states of
Southwest Asia, Indus valley, or China
2. Ecological mix meant different types of
trading goods in different regions
a. Dried fish along coast
b. Crops such as manioc and chili peppers
along rivers of Andes Mountains
c. Wool from llamas and alpacas found in
mountains
3. What is known about trade comes from
items found in burials
a. Painted gourds, pottery, textiles show
contact among societies
b. Marriage could strengthen a pact or
confederation
4. Aspero site reveals local community evolu-
tion to chiefship with more complex society
5. Cerro Sechin reveals large plaza for defense
a. Massive stone tablets show warriors,
batt les, prisoners, and executions
X. Conclusion
A. Second millennium bce was unprecedented
time of migration, warfare, and the building of
territorial kingdoms
B. Droughts triggered large-scale migrations
across Afro-Eurasia
1. Transhumant herders looked to riverine
societies for water and resources
2. Changed the social and political fabric of
those communities
3. Horse-riding nomads conquered and
sett led in the agrarian states, bringing
many technological innovations
a. Horse chariots
C. Nomads and transhumant herders exchanged
beliefs and customs with those they conquered
D. Long-distance trade by sea and land linked
agrarian societies
E. Trade and a need for more central government
led to the establishment of territorial states
F. Territorial states used chariot warriors to
expand territory
G. Shang dynasty emerged in East Asia without
rivals
H. In the Pacific, Aegean, Northern Europe, and
Americas, smaller microstates are still involved
with trade—some long-distance, some local
1. Technology, language, goods, and migrants
spread throughout this time
36 ◆ Chapter 3 Nomads, Territorial States, and Microsocieties, 2000–1200 bce
LECTURE IDEAS
Akhenaten, Monotheism, and the New Kingdom
The story of Akhenaten and his wife Nefertiti provides us
with a historical mystery that has captivated readers for
generations. The facts surrounding their reign can cap-
tivate your students as well. Th is allows you to expound
on Egyptian history during the New Kingdom, offer an
example of early attempts at monotheism, show students
how the process of ma’at was actually lived out, and de-
scribe many aspects of social life in this period. Akhen-
aten tried to reshape the heart of Egyptian life into a vision
of his own, including the creation of a new capital, new
forms of worship, and new bureaucratic structures. The
very fact that he believed he could accomplish his goal in-
dicates the pharaoh’s belief in his own divinity and power.
The rise and fall of Akhenaten provides a fascinating story
that encompasses a number of important global themes.
To read more about Akhenaten and Nefertiti refer to the
Web site Pharoahs of the Sun:
www.mfa.org/egypt/amarna/
If you would like to expand on this theme, consider as-
signing one of the Lord Meren series of historical novels
by Lynda S. Robinson. Th is series of historical fiction pro-
vides a strong background in Egyptian society during the
New Kingdom and the reign of Akhenaten. Have students
write essays on the novel. Caution them that as a source
for learning about history, fiction must be read critically.
Robinson’s attention to the details of material culture
woven into the story—clothing, trade items, weapons,
city layout, architecture—is exceptionally good. She also
provides good examples of the level of international trade
and cultural mixing of the time. Students should pay less
attention to the day-to-day intrigue and personalities of
the characters in the story.
The Etruscans
The Etruscans are mentioned only briefly in chapter 3,
but the more we learn about the lives of these enigmatic
people, the more we are aware of their contributions to
many important att ributes of the later Roman Empire. In-
troducing the Etruscans in detail offers continuity to the
flow of history instead of having it seem as if the Roman
Empire arose as a phoenix from the ashes. Students can
see how the sharing of cultural ideas and social assimila-
tion were necessary for the development of such a signifi-
cant empire. For example, the Etruscans were the fi rst to
stage gladiatorial games, which they held to honor their
ancestors. The story of Romulus and Remus appears to
have been borrowed from Etruscan mythology, as was the
famed bronze statue of the boys suckling on their adop-
tive mother, the she-wolf. Many of the Romans’ basic gov-
ernmental structures, such as consuls and senators, were
initially aspects of Etruscan government. Some features
of Etruscan society remained theirs alone. Today we can
still enter their burial mounds, or necropoli, which contain
beautiful murals circling the interior walls. Etruscans
were known for their skilled bronzework and a unique
and intricate black pottery. With these and other prod-
ucts, Etruscan merchants reached all the Mediterranean
ports including Carthage, rivalling in their seacraft the
Greeks, Carthaginians, Sea People, and others. A linen
manuscript of their writing has even been found; it was
used as embalming cloth for an Egyptian mummy. For
further information on the Etruscans, their civilization
and demise, see the following Web sites:
The Etruscans
www.larth.it/index_eng.htm
The Mysterious Etruscans
www.mysteriousetruscans.com/
as well as the bibliography at the end of this chapter.
Scientific Fact vs. Oral Culture: What Is History?
As briefly mentioned in the textbook (see p. 124), Chi-
nese and many other traditional cultures do not always
have a dividing line between scientific fact and oral cul-
ture. The more we learn about the early Neolithic period
of Chinese history, the more we come to understand that
elements of scientific truth resonate in many generations-
old stories, even though we originally had no scientific
proof of their validity. Chinese oral history tells of groups
of ancestors called the Culture Heroes (Xia or Hsia dy-
nasty) and the Sage Kings. The Culture Heroes are be-
lieved to have brought the basic, necessary survival skills
to the Chinese people, such as the ability to build irriga-
tion ditches and make nets, and the knowledge for mak-
ing silk, including the loom and the spinning wheel. The
three Sage Kings—Yao, Shun, and Wu—were thought
to have exceptional wisdom and virtue and taught the
Chinese about intellectual and spiritual pursuits. They
acquired much of their importance after Confucius used
their stories as models for moral behavior in many of his
writings. Select a variety of the Culture Heroes and Sage
Kings’ stories. Compare them with the originally oral
stories from the Bible, the Vedas (see p. 117) and the Ma-
habharata (see p. 167)—all of which still foster heated
debates as to their authenticity. Discuss how modern
scholars might look at the early Xia dynasty, the Culture
Heroes, and the Sage Kings such as Emperor Wu (see also
p. 286). Are they pure myth? Or could they be historical?
 Chapter 3 Nomads, Territorial States, and Microsocieties, 2000–1200 bce ◆ 37
How would a historian go about deciding? Do different
cultures perceive history differently? You can offer the
students the stories of Fu Shi and Sehn Nong. (In the
study guide section of chapter 4, there is a lecture on silk
making that refers to Lady Hsi Ling Hsi, the wife of the
Yellow Emperor, who was said to have brought the gift of
silk making and the spinning wheel to the Chinese.) Th is
is another story you could use here. For other materials
to complete this lecture see the Web sites and the recom-
mended reading at the end of this chapter.
What Can We Learn from Myths and Fairy Tales?
Just as historians have struggled with the oral traditions
in China and the Culture Heroes and Sage Kings, we are
also faced with the difficult task of teasing out fact from
fiction in any culture’s myths, fairy tales, ballads, and
other forms of oral literature. The rich tradition of Greek
mythology provides a perfect opportunity for helping
your students hone their analytical and discernment skills
as well as how to contextualize a story to enhance the pro-
cess. For instance, using the palace at Knossos, remind
your students of the Greek myth of the Minotaur, Dae-
dalus, the Athenian hero Theseus, Icarus, and Ariadne,
King Minos’s daughter. It seems likely that portions of
this story would be true, but how do we begin to discern
which? Help students review what can be true, what can’t,
and why the story might contain the symbols it does. You
can point out some of the following ideas, although there
are certainly others:
◆ Minos and Knossos did exist.
◆ Many Minoan murals indicate that they may have
employed some form of bull worship—hence, the
Minotaur.
◆ Show students the floor plan of the palace. It has been
suggested that the complexity of the palace itself (there
were over 1,500 rooms) could have been the source for
the idea of the labyrinth. The floor plan of the palace at
Knossos is available at:
www.daedalus.gr/DAEI/THEME/Knossos.htm
◆ Unlike in later European fairy tales, there is no
difference between social class, no poor peasant who
falls in love with the noble princess. The formula is
different here because the social structure was much
more democratic than in later Western societies.
◆ Labyrinths had special, spiritual meaning in most
early societies, although it is still unclear exactly what
that meaning was. However, by using a labyrinth as
the centerpiece to this story the storytellers obviously
intended a meaning that we are unable to understand
because we have no way to interpret it fully. Th is is the
oldest European story about a labyrinth, but labyrinths
have been excavated in Bronze Age villages in Africa
and Europe.
◆ The word labyrinth probably comes from labrys, a
double headed axe, which was a Cretan religious
symbol of power.
◆ You could conclude with a discussion of the relevance
of mythology. Why did the Romans borrow so many of
the Greek stories and gods?
the minotaur and the labyrinth
The story of the labyrinth goes something like this. King
Minos hired the craftsman, inventor, and architect Dae-
dalus to design a special labyrinth in which he could im-
prison the Minotaur. The minotaur was a monster, half
man and half bull, the son of Minos’s wife Pasiphae and
a bull. The labyrinth was so cleverly built that there was
only one way to escape, and this route had never been dis-
covered. The Minotaur was successfully imprisoned in
the labyrinth. To punish serious crimes, the king locked
men into the labyrinth for the Minotaur to feed on. One
day Ariadne met and fell in love with the hero of the city
of Athens, Theseus. She wished to marry him, but her fa-
ther refused his permission. He said that if Theseus could
kill the Minotaur and escape the labyrinth then he could
marry Ariadne. Ariadne convinced Daedalus to reveal the
secret of the maze to her. Just before Theseus was locked
into the maze Ariadne told him the secret and gave him a
ball of string. He was to tie the string to the entrance and
use that as the guide to fi nd his way out. He was success-
ful, slaying the Minotaur and escaping. In a rage because
of his betrayal, Minos sealed Daedalus and his son Icarus
in the labyrinth. As they were unable to escape, Daedalus
made wax wings so that they could both fly out of the
maze. Icarus, however, flew too near the sun; his wings
melted, and he fell to his death into the sea. Daedalus flew
to Sicily, where he was welcomed by King Cocalus. Minos
later pursued Daedalus but was killed by the daughters of
Cocalus.
CLASS ACTIVITIES
Worldview
Different societies share different world views, which are
then reflected in every aspect of their culture. For exam-
ple, in the text, the authors write that during its golden age,
Egypt “viewed the world as beneficent” (see p. 108). Their
day-to-day actions and lifestyles reflected that belief. It
is important for your students to see how worldviews af-
fect the choices and behaviors of peoples, especially in
terms of warfare and diplomacy. Often worldviews have
38 ◆ Chapter 3 Nomads, Territorial States, and Microsocieties, 2000–1200 bce
to do with the economic position of the society, people’s
relative safety in the world, and their belief in a success-
ful future. One relevant perspective for historians is to
look at the legacy of a group and evaluate their worldview
to understand why they made certain political choices.
Worldviews and their impact on peoples will be a theme
throughout this Instructor’s Manual.
In this exercise you will help students learn how to eval-
uate worldviews by looking at a group’s architecture and
burial practices. Later we will add other cultural practices.
You will help them learn the appropriate terminology for
making these evaluations. After you discuss the displace-
ment of the Minoans by the Mycenaean people, you can
have them evaluate these two groups’ significantly dif-
ferent worldviews through (1) their architecture and (2)
burial practices, the tholos/tholoi graves. A third way to
expand on examples of worldviews is to show students ex-
amples of Minoan Kamares ware.
The Minoans were known for their palace structures.
On the Internet you can fi nd a rendering of the palace at
Knossos at www.explorecrete.com/Knossos/knossos.
html. Using this and other renderings, help your students
see how worldviews were expressed in architecture. Ask
them to describe what they see or what is missing. For
example, there are no fortress walls; the palace has big
open windows and courtyard areas that are all relatively
indefensible. The feeling is light and open, not closed in.
Th is indicates an optimistic, open, and democratic soci-
ety that has litt le need to defend itself. Discuss the use of
the courtyard, which was the gathering place for everyone
in the community for daily work and trade, another indi-
cation of a representative system. Remind students about
the Pax Minoica, which supports the conclusion of a posi-
tive and optimistic worldview. Then turn to Mycenaean
architecture. We know litt le about their style, but they
tended to build walled cities, urban centers with a focus on
fortification. Th is might indicate the relative importance
of the arts, culture, and architecture to the Mycenaeans.
Walled cities imply a fear of attack and could guide the
direction of further research. Why did the Mycenaeans
build walls? What were they afraid of? What do we know
of these groups? What did they excel in and what cultural
capital was lost while they were in control? What can we
infer about their worldview from that information?
Provide images of the graves. The Minoan tholoi are
available at:
projectsx.dartmouth.edu/classics/history/bronze_
age/lessons/les/6.html.
The Mycenaean tholos graves are available at:
projectsx.dartmouth.edu/history/bronze_age/
lessons/les/19.html.
Then describe what historians understand about how
each culture used these same structures in different ways.
(Minoans used them as communal graves, Mycenaeans
used them as structures for aristocrat burials.) For a long
time, any connection between the Mycenaean form of
tholos and the earlier Minoan tholoi was denied, so the an-
cestry of the Mycenaean form was unclear. But research
revealed the links between the two types.
Finally, you can show students the Minoan Kama-
res ware, whose designs are full of movement—mainly
rosettes, spirals, and hatching painted on a shiny black
background. Their technical quality is remarkable. These
shapes are found in nature and indicate openness. Less so-
phisticated than the Minoans’, Mycenaean artwork lacks
its vitality and uniqueness. It was functional and basic,
with litt le artistry.
Chariots and Horses
To help your students understand the importance of
the invention of the chariot, have them study images of
chariots from various times and cultures and analyze the
differences and innovations among the images. (See also
chapter 4.) The introduction of the chariot into warfare
was as revolutionary as was the introduction of the tank
in World War I. War was never the same again. Provide
images of chariots from early civilizations (see suggested
list below). Have students list the differences they see
among the images. Make sure they consider, among other
things:
◆ design differences among the chariots
◆ methods of driving
◆ methods of fighting
◆ number of horses and passengers
◆ weapons of choice
Discuss with the students how these changes evolved and
what overall impact they had on civilization as a whole.
The fi rst known record of the use of a chariot was found
in burial sites in modern Russia and Kazakhstan dated
about 2000 bce. These chariots were made of bronze
and had spoke wheels. These ideas spread south into Iran
and India. In Mesopotamia the Hitt ites are thought to
have begun using chariots in warfare around the seven-
teenth century bce. Make sure that your students note
the radical differences in the Hitt ite chariots, such as a
much lighter design that held fewer soldiers and had fewer
spokes in the wheels. The Hyksos introduced the chariot
to the Egyptians, who in turn rapidly applied the chariot
to all aspects of warfare (sixteenth century bce). Egyp-
tian and Assyrian chariots had a driver and an archer. The
archer had a sophisticated quiver for his arrows, allowing
 Chapter 3 Nomads, Territorial States, and Microsocieties, 2000–1200 bce ◆ 39
for rapid fi re and multiple arrows. After the Bronze Age,
the chariot became less essential, although it remained an
important symbol of military might. In the fi rst millen-
nium, the Persians appear to be the fi rst to use four horses
to pull chariots; they also employed scythe blades on their
wheel axles. Cyrus the Younger, Xerxes, and Darius III
(331 bce) all used chariots like this.
Images to use:
Persian Chariots
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_ pictures/4223246.stm
Assyrian Chariots
www.bethsuryoyo.com/Code/Gallery/Assyrian
Chariots.html
www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/gabrmetz/gabr000c.
htm
Hyksos/Akkadian Chariots
www.pinellasfla.com/artempires.htm
Egyptian Chariots
hotcupofjoe.blogspot.com/2006/08/egyptian-chariot-
part-1.html
Discuss other tactical advances that were made in war-
fare during this time:
◆ Innovations in the arrow quiver to improve the rate of
fi ring
◆ Use of mounted infantry for fi rst time in the West;
invention of the cavalry
◆ Improvements to the harness for the horse and chariot
for stabilization
◆ Assyrian invention of the leather jackboot
Chopsticks
Having students practice using chopsticks, looking at
chopsticks, and considering them in a thoughtful way may
appear at fi rst to be a silly exercise. However, you probably
will be surprised at how few students have actually tried
them. You will likely not be surprised at how litt le your
students know about the cultural roots of chopsticks. Th is
is a simple activity that is easy to prepare and allows ample
time for discussion after students have had a chance to
contemplate the assignment. I provide a collection of dif-
ferent styles of chopsticks; it is useful for students to see
that chopsticks don’t all look like the bamboo ones you
get in Chinese restaurants. Provide lacquer chopsticks,
Japanese style chopsticks, chopsticks with mother of pearl
inlaid in them, beautifully fi nished wooden sticks, chop-
sticks with brass end caps, or ones with Chinese script
painted down them. Some are round, others square; the
Japanese ones are very thin. I also provide the inexpensive
stands on which Japanese rest their chopsticks. There is
no reason a litt le chopstick etiquette can’t be taught in a
history class. Lay out these items for students to look at.
If you have the time and desire, it would be wonderful to
provide them with some form of food to try to pick up.
Give them directions on how to hold and use the chop-
sticks. Once they have had a chance to absorb the variety
of styles and experiment on using them, let them begin
thinking about the evolution of the utensil itself. Many
stories are told about the history of chopsticks. They in-
clude aspects of Confucionism, ancestor worship, fam-
ine and weather conditions, and many other historical
considerations. By providing an opportunity for physical
manipulation of material culture you are creating a world
of new historical questions that students would otherwise
not have considered.
We know that chopsticks have been used since before
400 bce. You can refer to The History of Eating Utensils
at www.calacademy.org/research/anthropology/utensil/
chpstck.htm for more speculation on how the idea of
chopsticks as utensils evolved. Ask your students the
kinds of questions a historian might ask on discovering a
new piece of material culture. How and why do they think
the Chinese created chopsticks instead of other tools,
such as forks and knives? Have your students review the
level of cultural transmission with China at that time as
compared with other areas. How does this reflect Chinese
society? How do the different designs reflect Chinese soci-
ety? Do we usually see mother of pearl inlaid in our uten-
sils? Why do students think that forks, spoons, and knives
did not replace chopsticks once they became known?
You might pass out the rules of chopstick etiquette
found at the end of this chapter along with a page from
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chopsticks that provides instruc-
tions on how to actually hold and use chopsticks. If you do
provide food you can either give students something un-
cooked and explain that longer chopsticks are also used as
cooking utensils or you can give them a particular Chinese
dish and offer some historical/cultural background on
the food you provide. The etiquette rules provide another
venue to discuss the development of cultural norms and
the history of burial rituals, Chinese etiquette, and so on.
Compare Law Codes
Four major law codes were written in Mesopotamia dur-
ing the development of early civilizations. They were all
written between the eighteenth and eighth centuries bce.
Th is covers a wide period, yet the law codes built off each
other. It is helpful to look at law and its changes to see how
a government ruled, what was considered significant, or
what might have caused problems. Providing students
40 ◆ Chapter 3 Nomads, Territorial States, and Microsocieties, 2000–1200 bce
with excerpts from each of the codes allows them to do
their own comparative analysis. (Excerpts can be accessed
at the Internet Ancient History Sourcebook, Mesopo-
tamia, available at www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/
asbook03.html) After they have reviewed and compared
the codes, have a discussion. You can fi ll in the context,
explaining changes in the historical environment, outside
threats, and internal concerns. If you lay the codes out the-
matically, students generally gain a better understanding
of life in early Mesopotamian societies. In particular, have
them look at the emphasis on civil law versus criminal law,
emphasis on control of women, emphasis on property law,
and the frequent use of swift physical punishment when
guilt was assigned. You can provide your students with
some of these general facts when beginning a discussion:
Code of Hammurabi (1750 bce)
Middle Assyrian Law (fi fteenth–eleventh century bce)
Hitt ite Law (fi fteenth–eleventh century bce)
Biblical Covenant Code (ninth–eighth century bce)
Commonalties among laws codes:
◆ The majority of laws deal with issues about women.
◆ The laws reinforce and codify already established
social norms.
◆ The laws fi nalize the process of shift ing women from
being people to property. In other words, a more
egalitarian society became fully patriarchal.
◆ Provides us with the best available presentation of the
culture.
Divining
In chapters 2 and 3 of the textbook, the authors repeatedly
refer to cultures’ various ways of predicting the future. It is
a human need to reduce uncertainty, and forms of fortune-
telling, magic, and reduction of risk were practiced every-
where, in many ways. Chapter 2 briefly mentions the use of
magic in Egypt (see p. 77). Archaeologists have found evi-
dence of the use of magic in China along the Yellow River
(see p. 83). One very important form of Chinese divining
was the use of oracle bones, mentioned in chapters 3 and
4, which has left us with a plethora of detail on the Shang
dynasty. We will use the various forms of soothsaying and
divining as one way to see changes in civilizations. It will
be a theme throughout this instructor’s manual as a means
of enhancing deep learning. In China, another form of
soothsaying arose during this time, the I Ching. The prin-
ciples of I Ching evolve from a strongly mystical basis. The
I Ching was said to have been presented to the Chinese
by one of the Culture Heroes, Fu Xi. (2852–2738 bce). In
this exercise provide your students with I Ching coins and
a sheet on reading the coins. Have the students toss the
coins. A sheet for interpreting the symbols is found at the
end of the chapter. Once they have done this, discuss the
context of the I Ching. It is important, however, to explain
that, as with any method of divining, there is an ancient
and complex spiritual element that we can only begin to
understand. By tossing I Ching coins, we only begin to
gain entry into the worldview of the Chinese who used I
Ching and the accompanying text, The Book of Changes.
We can consider what was of value in their lives and in the
future they feared merely by looking at the outcomes of the
readings. But to say we understand the spiritual practice
of I Ching would be like saying someone knew everything
about Christianity after reading the Lord’s Prayer. I Ching
coins can be found at New Age stores; many bead stores
and bookstores also carry them. You can refer to the fol-
lowing Web sites for further historical details:
I Ching
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Ching
I Ching, The Book of Changes
www.iging.com/
Given the various forms of knowing the future in
other early civilizations covered in the textbook, ask your
students—once they have tossed the coins and discov-
ered their “futures”—if they perceive differences among
cultures. Why or why not? Do all of these kinds of sooth-
saying have religious underpinnings? Was it more or less
important in some cultures to predict the future? Why or
why not? Consideration of these questions strengthens
their analytical skills as well as opening a window into the
inner workings of the ancient world.
RECOMMENDED FILMS
■ Ancient India (one of the thirteen-part Films for the
Humanities and Sciences series on Ancient Civilizations,
48 min.). The portions of this fi lm relevant to chapters
2 and 3 can be shown in approximately 30 minutes and
allow for a discussion to follow. It draws on the stability
of the Harappan civilization, pre-Aryan arrival, and then
expands on the cultural, economic, and political changes
that occurred by about 1500 bce after assimilation. The
fi lm was shot in Pakistan and Afghanistan, the area that
was early India. The fi lm explains the development of the
caste system as well as growing religious tensions.
■ China: The Mandate of Heaven (57 min.). This PBS Leg-
acy fi lm series is narrated by Michael Wood. Juxtaposing
the modern world against ancient historical details, Wood
describes the evolution of earliest China through the face
of China’s heartland, An Yan. Some of the themes on
 Chapter 3 Nomads, Territorial States, and Microsocieties, 2000–1200 bce ◆ 41
which he focuses are new inventions such as gunpowder
and the importance of harmony and ancestors in Chinese
culture. The fi lm will extend beyond the periods discussed
in Chapters 2 and 3 but there is a good point at which to
stop at about 45 minutes, leaving time to wrap up.
■ Dawn of the Maya (National Geographic). Litt le is
known about early Mayan culture, although it is becom-
ing clearer that the Maya were far more sophisticated than
it was ever earlier envisioned. Th is fi lm expands on the
new breakthroughs made by archaeologists and leads the
viewer into the world of the Maya. We are still left with
many questions, but your students will gain increased
knowledge and understanding of ancient Mayan life.
■ Enigma of the Etruscans: Clues from a Shipwreck (50
min.). Until the last ten to twenty years, litt le was known
about the Etruscans. Even today, litt le time is set aside to
teach about them. Th is fi lm provides an opportunity to
add information about the Etruscans, who influenced the
Celts and many other groups along the Mediterranean
coast. They also greatly influenced the development of
Roman civilization. Th is fi lm shows the excavation of the
fi rst Etruscan ship to be discovered, a rare fi nd given that
they once had the strongest merchant fleet on the Mediter-
ranean Sea. The program documents the salvaging of the
ship and details many of the civilization’s contributions.
■ In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great: Parts 1–3 (240
min.). Th is series is narrated by Michael Wood. In the
Footsteps of Alexander the Great attempts to retrace Alex-
ander and his army’s march toward empire from Mace-
donia, when Alexander took the crown after his father’s
death and beyond the point where his soldiers threatened
mutiny at the Indus River and he agreed to return home-
ward. Using small boats, camels, and various other modes
of transportation, Wood explores the vast reaches that
Alexander crossed. We begin to understand Alexander in
all his complexity as a man-child, a philosopher, a ruler,
a warrior, and sometimes even a humanitarian. You can
choose any portion of these fi lms to augment your lec-
tures, since so much of the storyline is about the blending
of histories and cultures. Consider the lectures before and
after when deciding which segment to use.
■ In the Footsteps of the Celts (52 min.). Celtic influence
spread across ancient Europe. We continue to discover
new sites where they left their mark. Th is fi lm describes
the discovery of a Celtic necropolis along the planned
path of a high-speed train line in eastern France. The
discovery forced a stop to construction, and the location
turned into a major archaeological dig. Within this frame-
work the producers attempt to tell viewers a litt le about
who the Celts were, what their lives were like, and what
they contributed to the world. They trail the nomadic
Celts across Europe, unearthing other sites, and reveal-
ing that the Celts reached a generally unexpected level of
sophistication. The fi lm also shows us links between the
Celts and the Etruscans as well as evidence of a developed
knowledge of mathematics.
■ Nefertiti and the Lost Dynasty (National Geographic,
50 min.) Nefertiti, the wife of Akhenaten, wielded tre-
mendous power as queen of Egypt. Considered one of the
most beautiful women in history, she has been accused of
aiding her husband in the destruction of Egypt’s power. It
has also been suggested that she was one of the few voices
of reason during his reign. National Geographic looks at
the life of Nefertiti, her physical remains, and aspects of
the dynasty she helped head. It also includes a bonus “Fact
File” that you could use to form the lecture suggested in
the Lecture Ideas section.
RECOMMENDED READINGS
Cyril Aldred, 1988. Akhenaten King of Egypt.
Anonymous. Wendy Doniger, (Ed.), 2005. The Rig Veda.
Dorothea Arnold, 1996. The Royal Women of Amarna:
Images of Beauty from Ancient Egypt.
Susan Wise Bauer, 2007. The History of the Ancient World:
From the Earliest Accounts to the Fall of Rome.
Edwin Bryant, 2001. The Quest for the Origins of Vedic
Culture: The Indo-Aryan Migration Debate.
Wm. Theodore de Bary, Irene Bloom, and Joseph Adler
(Eds.), 2000. Sources of Chinese Tradition. Vol. 1.
Khrishna Dharma, 2006. Mahabharata: The Greatest
Spiritual Epic of All Time.
Rita Freed, Yvonne Markowitz, and Sue D’Auria, (Eds.),
1999. Pharaohs of the Sun: Akhenaten, Nefertiti,
Tutankhamun.
Sybille Haynes, 2000. Etruscan Civilization: A Cultural
History.
Barry Kemp, 1989. Ancient Egypt: Anatomy of a
Civilization.
David Adams Leeming and Margaret Adams Leeming,
1995. A Dictionary of Creation Myths.
Dominic Monserrat, 2000. Akhenaten: History, Fantasy
and Ancient Egypt.
Nicholas Reeves, 2001. Akhenaten: Egypt’s False Prophet.
Gay Robins, 1993. Women in Ancient Egypt.
Lynda Robinson, 1994. Murder in the Place of Anubis, Vol.
1 of the Lord Meren Series.
, 1995. Murder at the God’s Gate, Vol. 2 of the
Lord Meren Series.
, 1996. Murder at the Feast of Rejoicing, Vol. 3 of
the Lord Meren Series.
42 ◆ Chapter 3 Nomads, Territorial States, and Microsocieties, 2000–1200 bce
, 1997. Eater of Souls, Vol. 4 of the Lord Meren
Series.
, 1998. Drinker of Blood, Vol. 5 of the Lord Meren
Series.
, 2001. Slayer of Gods, Vol. 6 of the Lord Meren
Series.
I. Shaw, (Ed.), 2000. The Oxford History of Ancient Egypt.
R. Wilhelm and C. Baynes, 1967. The I Ching or Book of
Changes. Forward by Carl Jung. 3rd. Ed.
WEB SITES
Prehistory Archaeology of the Aegean
projectsx.dartmouth.edu/classics/history/bronze_
age/index.html
Knossos Minoan Palace
www.explorecrete.com/Knossos/knossos.html
Pharoahs of the Sun
www.mfa.org/egypt/amarna/
Internet Ancient History Sourcebook
www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/asbook.html
The Etruscans
www.larth.it/index_eng.htm
Museo Gregoriano Etrusco I
www.christusrex.org/www1/vaticano/ET1-
Etrusco.html
The Mysterious Etruscans
www.mysteriousetruscans.com/
Ancient China: The Shang and the Yellow River Culture
wsu.edu/~dee/ANCCHINA/YELLOW.HTM
www.wsu.edu/~dee/ANCCHINA/SHANG.HTM
Ancient China
www.ancientweb.org/China/index.htm
Chopsticks
See this Web site for pictures on how to hold and eat with
chopsticks: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chopsticks
Chopstick Etiquette
Some of these rules vary from country to country.
◆ Don’t make noise with your chopsticks. If you are
eating noodles, slurping the noodles is acceptable.
◆ Do not change your choice of food once you have
picked something up with your chopsticks.
◆ Don’t set chopsticks on your bowl. Chopsticks should
be placed on the table or chopstick holder with the tips
facing to the left.
◆ Do not use chopsticks to dig for special bits of food in
a bowl.
◆ Do not spear food with your chopsticks.
◆ Don’t point with your chopsticks.
◆ Do not transfer food from your chopsticks directly to
another person’s chopsticks. Th is imitates a practice at
Buddhist funerals when the bones of a cremated body
are passed from one person to another.
◆ It is bad manners to pull dishes toward you with
chopsticks.
◆ Do not use chopsticks as if they were spoons by
keeping them together.
◆ Do not lick the ends of chopsticks.
◆ Don’t stick chopsticks in your rice. Th is gesture is
reminiscent of incense sticks burned at funerals,
or with offerings placed on the altar at an ancestral
shrine.
 Chapter 3 Nomads, Territorial States, and Microsocieties, 2000–1200 bce ◆ 43

I CHING
Solid lines represent creative aspect, or yang. The open
line represents the yin, or the receptive aspect. Together,
the principles form the yin-yang circle. Using the table
below, throw the set of three coins twice, copying down
the outcome of the throws each time. Write from left to
right and fi nd the pattern of symbols on the table. (Th is
table was originally devised by Richard Wilhelm, a lead-
ing scholar whose translation of The Book of Changes is
still considered one of the best.) The hexagrams, though,
are mere mnemonics for the philosophical concepts each
one embodies. The philosophy centers on the ideas of bal-
ance through opposites and acceptance of change.

Hexagram Principle Hexagram Principle Hexagram Principle

|||||| Force The Creative ¦¦¦||| Obstruction Standstill ¦¦¦¦¦| Stripping Splitting Apart
¦¦¦¦¦¦ Field The Receptive |¦|||| Concording Fellowship |¦¦¦¦¦ Returning Return
People
|¦¦¦|¦ Sprouting Difficulty at the ||||¦| Great Great Possession |¦¦||| Without Innocence
Beginning Possessing Embroiling
¦|¦¦¦| Enveloping Youthful Folly ¦¦|¦¦¦ Humbling Modesty |||¦¦| Great Great Taming
Accumulating
|||¦|¦ Attending Waiting ¦¦¦|¦¦ Providing-For Enthusiasm |¦¦¦¦| Swallowing Mouth Corners
¦|¦||| Arguing Conflict |¦¦||¦ Following Following ¦||||¦ Great Exceeding Great Preponderance
¦|¦¦¦¦ Leading The Army ¦||¦¦| Corrupting Work on the ¦|¦¦|¦ Gorge The Abysmal Water
Decayed
¦¦¦¦|¦ Grouping Holding Together ||¦¦¦¦ Nearing Approach |¦||¦| Radiance The Clinging
|||¦|| Small Small Taming ¦¦¦¦|| Viewing Contemplation ¦|||¦¦ Persevering Duration
Accumulation
||¦||| Treading Treading (Conduct) |¦¦|¦| Gnawing Biting Through ¦¦|||¦ Conjoining Influence
|||¦¦¦ Pervading Peace |¦|¦¦| Adorning Grace ¦¦|||| Retiring Retreat
||||¦¦ Great Invigorating Great Power ¦¦¦|¦| Prospering Progress |¦|¦¦¦ Brightness Darkening of the
Hiding Light
|¦|¦|| Dwelling People The Family ||¦|¦| Polarizing Opposition ¦¦|¦|¦ Limping Obstruction
¦|¦|¦¦ Taking-Apart Deliverance ||¦¦¦| Diminishing Decrease |¦¦¦|| Augmenting Increase
|||||¦ Parting Breakthrough ¦||||| Coupling Coming to Meet ¦¦¦||¦ Clustering Gathering Together
¦||¦¦¦ Ascending Pushing Upward ¦|¦||¦ Confining Oppression ¦||¦|¦ Welling The Well
|¦|||¦ Skinning Revolution ¦|||¦| Holding The Cauldron |¦¦|¦¦ Shake Arousing
¦¦|¦¦| Bound The Keeping Still ¦¦|¦|| Infiltrating Development ||¦|¦¦ Converting the The Marrying Maiden
Maiden
|¦||¦¦ Abounding Abundance ¦¦||¦| Sojourning The Wanderer ¦||¦|| Ground The Gentle
||¦||¦ Open The Joyous ¦|¦¦|| Dispersing Dispersion ||¦¦|¦ Articulating Limitation
||¦¦|| Centre Inner Truth ¦¦||¦¦ Small Exceeding Small |¦|¦|¦ Already Fording After Completion
Confirming Preponderance
¦|¦|¦| Not-Yet Fording Before Completion
CH A PTER 4
First Empires and Common Cultures
in Afro-Eurasia, 1200–350 bce
▶ Forces of Upheaval and the Rise of Regional Empires
Migrations Led to Incursions into Urban Societies
Regional Empires Emerged for Several Reasons
▶ The Neo-Assyrian Empire
Expansion into a Regional Empire
Integration and Control of the Neo-Assyrian
Empire
Assyrian Social Structure and Population
The Instability of the Assyrian Empire
▶ The Persian Empire
The Integration of a Multicultural Empire
Decentralized Empire
Zoroastrianism, Ideology, and Social Structure
Public Works and Imperial Identity
LECTURE OUTLINE
Th is chapter begins with another environmental change
that led to migration and upheavals in the older territo-
rial kingdoms. In their places regional empires were es-
tablished. The Neo-Assyrian and Persian empires became
superpowers within the region. Both expanded their ter-
ritory well beyond their ethnic or linguistic areas. Th is
chapter compares the Assyrian model of rule with that of
the Persian empire. On the fringes of the empires, other
smaller states begin to organize, especially around trade in
the Mediterranean. Th is chapter discusses the Greeks, the
Phoenicians, and the peoples of Judah and demonstrates
how South Asia and China became more socially and cul-
turally integrated, even without a large regional empire.
Finally, the chapter focus on religion offers an early look
at the rise of Hinduism and the spread of monotheism.
I. Overview of Assyrian Model of Rule
A. Assyrians redistributed population to create
more homogeneity within their territory
44
▶ Imperial Fringes in Western Afro-Eurasia
Migrations and Upheaval
Persia and the Greeks
The Phoenicians
The Land of Judah
▶ Foundations of Vedic Culture in South Asia (1500–
400 bce)
Splintered States
Castes in a Stratified Society
Vedic World
▶ The Early Zhou Empire in East Asia (1045–771 bce)
Zhou Succession and Political Foundation
The Zhou “Mandate of Heaven” and the
Legitimation of Power
Social Structure and Economic Transformation
Limits and Decline of Zhou Power
B. Used conquered people as soldiers, laborers,
scribes, and artisans
C. Other migration forced by climatic changes
II. Forces of Upheaval and the Rise of Regional
Empire
A. Around 1200 bce, another warming phase
brought about social upheaval and human
migration in Afro-Eurasia
B. Population growth and soil exhaustion in other
regions forced many people to leave homes and
look for food and fertile land
C. Migrations led to incursions into urban
societies
1. Fierce warriors attacked capital cities
2. Destroyed the administrative centers of
kings, priests, and dynasties
D. Destruction of cities and administration
centers paved way for new states
E. The mixing of nomadic and urban societies led
to the expansion of kingdoms
 Chapter 4 First Empires and Common Cultures in Afro- Eurasia, 1200–350 bce ◆ 45
1. Warrior-kings sought to conquer
independent and culturally distinct
kingdoms and subjugate the people
2. Conquests led to more integration
a. Common language or multilingual
b. Shared religious beliefs
c. Some customs and beliefs remained
d. Common administration, laws,
calendars were instituted
3. South Asian peoples shared cultures and
beliefs more than political systems
4. Other regions were connected mainly by
extensive trade
a. Byblos
b. Tyre
F. Regional empires emerged for several reasons
1. Iron tools and weapons
a. Metalworkers learned to manipulate
iron
b. Adding carbon to iron made steel
2. Shift in agrarian techniques
a. Iron-tipped plow could open up new
regions
b. Turned up new topsoil for better crop
production
3. Use of camel as a beast of burden
a. Opened up new overland trade routes
b. Could carry heavy loads
c. Could cross deserts
4. Innovation in military and administrative
control
a. Standing armies with advanced
weapons
b. Deportation
c. Use of slaves in areas needing more
labor
5. Roads, garrisons, and way stations
constructed for moving troops
G. As previous states collapsed, new states were
replacements, not descendants
1. War now shaped human development, not
the environment
2. Territorial power via conquest helped to
make the new states bigger
III. The Neo-Assyrian Empire
A. Affected all Southwest Asia and North Africa,
as well as the Mediterranean region
B. World’s fi rst regionally integrated empire
C. Expansion into an empire
1. Empire lasted for three brutal
centuries
2. Known for its reliance on terror
using harsh punishments, large-scale
deportations, and systematic intimidation
to crush adversaries
3. Assyrian heartland centered on the ancient
cities of Assur and Nineveh on the upper
Tigris River
4. Assyrians had several advantages
a. Armies of well-trained, disciplined,
professional troops
b. Officers rose by merit, not birth
c. Perfected the combined deployment of
infantry and cavalry (horse riders and
chariots)
d. Excellent siege warriors, using siege
towers and battering rams
e. Huge armies of 120,000 soldiers
5. In fi rst stage of imperial expansion, the
king participated in annual campaigns
6. Tiglath Pileser III reorganized and led
second phase of royal expansion
a. Took away the rights of the nobility to
own and inherit land or other wealth
b. Abolished old system of hereditary
provincial governors with annual
appointments
c. Reinstated expansionist annual military
campaigns
d. Policies intensified hatred of the
Assyrians
e. Assyrians increasingly relied on state-
sponsored terror in governing their
empire
7. In fi nal phase, expansion outpaced ability
to control new territories effectively
8. The empire’s collapse came swift ly and
without warning
D. Integration and control of the Neo-Assyrian
Empire
1. Structure of the empire
a. Empire divided into two parts
i. The Core—the “Land of Ashur,”
between the Zagros Mountains
and the Euphrates River
a. King’s appointees governed
lands
b. Responsible for supplying food
for the temple of the national
god, Ashur, labor, and officials
ii. The Land under the Yoke of Ashur
a. Ethnic groups under Assyrian
control but not Assyrians
46 ◆ Chapter 4 First Empires and Common Cultures in Afro-Eurasia, 1200–350 bce
b. Local rulers held power as
vassals of Assyria
c. Had to supply huge amounts of
tribute in form of gold and silver
d. Wealth went to the king for his
own court and military costs
iii. Reforms of Tiglath Pileser III
a. Brought more lands into the
empire
b. Forced Assyrianization
was harshly administered
throughout
2. Deportations and forced labor
a. As army grew, non-Assyrians became
part of the army
i. Phoenicians provided ships and
sailors
ii. Medes served as the king’s
bodyguards
iii. Charioteers from Judah fought
against rebels in western provinces
b. Needed huge workforces for agriculture
and public works
i. Recruited workers from conquered
peoples
ii. Relocated over 4 million people to
support work projects
iii. Relocation undermined local
resistance efforts
3. Assyrian ideology and propaganda
a. Propaganda supported and justified
expansion, exploration, and pervasive
inequality
i. Art showed a strong sense of
divinely determined destiny
ii. The national god, Ashur,
commanded all Assyrians to
support expansion of empire
iii. King, with aid of Ashur, conducted
holy war to transform the entire
known world to a well-regulated
“Land of Ashur”
b. Th ree types of propaganda were used
i. Elaborate architectural complexes
for state ceremonial displays of
pomp and power
ii. Texts composed to glorify the king
and the empire
iii. Texts recited at state occasions,
placed on monuments, written in
annals
iv. Images glorifying the king and the
might of the Assyrian army were
depicted on palace walls
v. Assyrian literary form called
annals
a. Text written to serve state
formation
b. Inscribed in cuneiform on stone
and later on clay tablets
c. Court scribes entered a record
of each “successful campaign”
E. Assyrian social structure and population
1. King topped hierarchical structure and
served as the sole agent of the god
Ashur
2. Seven powerful officials executed the king’s
commands
3. Provincial governors were originally
members of the ancient Assyrian families
but lost power with reforms of Tiglath
Pileser III
4. Military elites highly rewarded and became
noble class that controlled land and
peasants
5. Most Assyrians were peasants who worked
the fields of the elites
a. Those enslaved because of debt had
rights to marry free partners, engage
in fi nancial transactions, and own
property including slaves
b. Slaves acquired in conquest had no
rights
c. Some peasants were relocated to work
new lands
6. Most peasant families were small and lived
on small plots of land
7. Women in Assyria more restricted than in
Sumeria or Old Babylonia
a. Assyrian women had no control over
their lives
b. Inheritance passed through male line
c. Middle Assyrians introduced veiling in
the thirteenth century bce
d. All “respectable” women had to veil
e. Prostitutes would be beaten or killed for
veiling
f. Assyrian queens under same norms
but had a more comfortable life than
commoners
g. Mother of the king gained some power
and respect
 Chapter 4 First Empires and Common Cultures in Afro- Eurasia, 1200–350 bce ◆ 47
i. Queen could serve as regent if son
was not of age when he became
king
F. The instability of the Assyrian Empire
1. Imperial expansion led to overextended
armies and subjects too distant to control
2. Nobles became discontented
3. Subject peoples rebelled, which challenged
Assyrian worldview and led to the empire’s
fall
4. In 612 bce, Neo-Assyrian Empire
collapsed with the conquest of Nineveh by
the Babylonians and Medes
IV. The Persian Empire
A. Persians part of nomadic group that came to
the Iranian plateau at the end of the second
millennium bce
1. Competed with the Medes, another
nomadic group who had sett led earlier
2. For many years, Medes and Persians
warred and paid tribute to Assyrians and
Babylonians
B. Cyrus the Great (r. 559–529 bce) united
Persian tribes and defeated the Medes and
other peoples in Anatolia
1. Cyrus’s conquests made possible
the development of a regional and
multicultural empire
2. Used persuasion rather than violence to
subdue other peoples
3. No urban tradition; borrowed ideology
and institutions from the Elamites, the
Babylonians, and the Assyrians
C. The integration of a multicultural empire
1. Cyrus founded the Persian Empire
2. Traced his ancestry back to legendary king
Achaemenes
3. Cyrus was a benevolent king who liberated
his subjects from the oppression of their
own kings
a. Freed Babylonians, including the
Hebrews, who returned to Jerusalem
and rebuilt their temple
b. Greeks saw Cyrus as a model ruler
4. Darius I succeeded Cyrus and put the
empire on solid footing
a. Conquered territories held by seventy
different ethnic groups
b. Introduced innovative and dynamic
administrative systems
5. Persians used central and local
administration to rule a multicultural,
multilingual empire
6. Exploited local traditions, economy, and
rule rather than force Persian traditions
and customs on subject peoples
7. The Persians believed all in the empire
were equal
8. Persians only demanded that subject
peoples give the king their loyalty and pay
tribute
9. Used local languages, but Aramaic became
the lingua franca of the empire
D. Decentralized empire
1. Established a system of provinces or
satrapies, each ruled by satrap (governor)
2. Persian military officers, tax collectors, and
spies closely monitored local bureaucrats
and officials
3. Used a system of fi xed taxation and formal
tribute allocations
4. Promoted trade throughout the empire
a. Built roads
b. Standardized currency, including
coinage
c. Standardized weights and measure
E. Zoroastrianism, ideology, and social structure
1. Ahura Mazda, the supreme god, was
believed to have appointed the monarch as
ruler over people and lands
2. Drew religious ideas from their pastoral
and tribal roots
a. Similar to Vedic texts of Indus Valley
3. Zoroaster (aka Zarathustra) taught after
1000 bce in eastern Iran and responsible
for crystallizing the region’s traditional
beliefs into a formal religious system
4. Zoroastrianism became the religion of the
Persian Empire
5. The teachings of Zoroaster are in the Avesta
a. Avesta is a compilation of holy works
transmitted orally by priests for more
than 1,000 years
b. Written down in the sixth century bce
c. Much in common linguistically with
Vedic texts
6. Zoroaster’s teachings converted Iranians
from animistic nomadic beliefs
a. Promoted monotheism
b. Persian belief in a dualistic universe
c. Ahura Mazda was good
48 ◆ Chapter 4 First Empires and Common Cultures in Afro-Eurasia, 1200–350 bce
d. Ahiram was deceitful and wicked
e. Both gods were in a cosmic struggle for
the universe
7. Zoroastrianism not fatalistic, rather treated
humans as independent actors capable of
choosing between good and evil
8. Human choices had consequences—
rewards or punishments in the afterlife
a. Strict rules of behavior determined the
fate of each individual
b. The dead were to be left to the elements
9. Persian kings enjoyed absolute authority
a. Kings were expected to rule morally,
following the tenets of Zoroastrianism
b. Kings were to be just rulers, fair, and
able to distinguish right from wrong
c. Kings had to display physical
superiority through horsemanship and
weapons handling
10. Persians divided social order into four
large, diverse groups
a. Priests, nobles, and warriors
b. Scribes/bureaucrats and merchants
c. Artisans
d. Peasants
11. Nobility and merchants close to the king
a. King was expected to marry a woman
from the noble families
b. Expected to give tax exemptions
c. Darius tried to diminish the power of
the nobles through reforms
d. Royal gifts solidified the relations
between king and nobles
F. Public works and imperial identity
1. Royal Road built and used by traders,
Persian army, and those bringing tribute to
the king
a. Way stations with fresh mounts and
provisions placed along the way
2. Other infrastructure built to connect
periphery to center of empire
a. Canal linking Red Sea to Nile River
b. Qanats, underground tunnels for water
3. Cyrus led way in building monumental
architecture
4. Darius forged visual and physical
expressions uniquely Persian
a. Capital at Persepolis
b. Craft workers from all over empire built
Persepolis; their distinct styles melded
into a new Persian architectural style
c. Persepolis was an important
administrative hub
i. 30,000 tablets written in Elamite
cuneiform script have been found
by archaeologists
5. Persians borrowed from other groups to
design their architecture
a. Reception rooms were grand, columned
halls
b. Large spaces allowed people from all
over the empire to gather
c. Elaborate architectural decoration was
form of propaganda
d. Propaganda of Persians, which showed
gladly obedient peoples, contrasted
with Assyrian propaganda
6. Persian method for creating empire very
different from Assyrians’
V. Imperial Fringes in Western Afro-Eurasia
A. Those on the fringes of the empires took an
active role, sometimes intruding on the empires
themselves
1. Developed own political and cultural
systems
B. Migrations and upheaval
1. Around 1200 bce, demographic upheavals,
and migrations enhanced the ability of
smaller fringe communities to wield power
2. Used iron technologies to arm populations
and invaded the larger empires’ territories
3. Invasions of the migrants ended the Hitt ite
Empire
4. Adopted boats for transportation around
the Mediterranean
C. Sea Peoples (Peleset)
1. Attack the Egyptians and other kingdoms
2. Sett led along the southern coast of the
Levant
a. Known as Philistines
3. Weakened local Canaanite communities
4. Israelites took advantage and sett led the
interior
D. Economic downturn from 1100 to 900 bce
affected empires and kingdoms
1. Arts, large-scale construction, writing,
trade all declined or disappeared
a. Sea People shook the social structure of
the Minoans and Mycenaeans
E. As empires declined, individual warrior-heroes
emerged
 Chapter 4 First Empires and Common Cultures in Afro- Eurasia, 1200–350 bce ◆ 49
1. Iliad based on oral tradition from this time
2. War in Troy about 1200 bce
F. Rapid transformation was both destructive and
creative
G. Persia and the Greeks
1. On the fringe of the Persian kingdom rose
the Greeks
2. Joined with other Mediterranean peoples
to revolt
3. Persia could not put down the rebellion on
the mainland
a. Athenians defeated Persians in 492 bce
at Marathon
b. In 479 bce, Athenians defeated Persians
and began to expand into Persian
territory
H. The Phoenicians
1. Some borderland people coexisted with the
large empires
2. Engaged in trade and retained autonomy as
imperial vassals
a. Chanani (Canaanites) were known by
the Greeks as Phoenicians
b. Phoenicians (“Purple People”) traded
purple dye
c. Traded throughout the Mediterranean
with boats made from inland cedar
trees
3. Innovators of shipbuilding and seafaring
4. Established trading colonies on southern
and western rim of Mediterranean
5. Worked with the Assyrians as trading
partners and suppliers
6. Competition between Greeks and
Phoenicians led to innovations and transfer
of culture
a. Alphabet and writing revolutionized
communication
b. Less need for professional scribes
I. Israel and Judah
1. Small region on edge of Assyria
2. Hybrid society that merged traits of
Mesopotamian states with its own
a. Central temple organization,
priesthood, scribal elite, new monarchy
b. United by King David and son Solomon
3. Hebrews deported by Assyrians to Babylon
until collapse of Babylon
4. Returned to Judah and rebuilt temple
5. Became more unified and worshipers of
only one deity
6. Rigorous rules established that regulated
life style
a. Th reats against those who did not follow
rules part of culture
b. Divine retribution often evoked
7. Monotheism spread rapidly by Israelites
throughout Mediterranean world
VI. Foundations of Vedic Culture in South Asia
(1500–400 bce)
A. Founded by nomads who did not have older
surviving urban centers to draw on
1. Nomadic charioteers, called Aryans,
speaking Indo-European language
2. Lacked urban centers
3. Brought cultural traits from European
nomadic communities
a. Rituals conducted by priests
b. Composed rhymes, hymns, and
explanatory texts called Vedas
c. Vedas oral, and then written in Sanskrit
B. Encountered indigenous peoples with
knowledge of the land
1. Exchange between Vedic people and
indigenous peoples
2. Region became more unified because of
the shared culture of the Vedas
C. Early trade centered on horses not luxury goods
1. Drove creation of long-distance trade
routes
D. Vedic people sett led and cultivated the land
1. Used iron plow to grow crops
2. Urban sett lement developed
3. Trade developed as agricultural surpluses
grew
E. Splintered states
1. The region remained politically
disintegrated
2. Created regional oligarchies and
chieftainships
3. Fought among themselves and reinforced
the importance of warriors
a. Indra, the god of war
b. Agni, the god of fi re
4. Warriors were the elite
5. Chieftainships merged into kingdoms tied
to kin and clan structures
F. Social hierarchy developed based on family
lines
1. Chandravamsha, lunar lineage
2. Suryavamsha, solar lineage
50 ◆ Chapter 4 First Empires and Common Cultures in Afro-Eurasia, 1200–350 bce
3. Later two major epics recounted tales
based on the lineages
4. Lineage system lived on and determined
social structure
G. Castes in a stratified society
1. Differences between those who controlled
land and those who did not
2. Castes (inherited social classes) associated
with specific lineages
a. Kshatriya, warriors and controlled land
b. Vaishya, worked land and tended
livestock
c. Shudras, of non-Vedic lineages, were
laborers or slaves in the fields
d. Brahmans, priestly caste, ranked
highest
i. Performed rituals and
communicated with gods
ii. Guided society in the proper
relationship with the forces of
nature as represented by the deities
e. Powerful monarchies emerged around
kings (rajas)
i. Laws of Manu guided the king and
regulated king’s subjects
H. Vedic world
1. Brahman caste unified the people through
a common culture
2. Vedas contained sacred knowledge of the
people and helped unify them
3. Brahmans, the priests of Vedic society,
memorized the Vedic works
a. Brahmans compiled commentaries on
old works and created a new set of rules
and rituals
b. Established full-scale theology that
explained their newly sett led farming
environment
c. Some parts of the Veda incorporated
ideas of non-Sanskrit-speaking peoples
i. Atharva Veda includes charms
and remedies from indigenous
traditions
4. Main Vedic literature comprised four
Vedas
5. Evolving ideas led to a new collection
called the Upanishads
a. Dialogue between disciples and a sage
b. Social and religious order intertwined
c. Concept of atman, an eternal being that
never perishes but is reborn
d. Reincarnation becomes a cornerstone of
the late Vedic belief system
VII. The Early Zhou Empire in East Asia (1045–771
bce)
A. After allying with Shang, Zhou turned against
them in 1045 bce
B. Zhou continued Shang’s attempts at state
building
1. Set up a patrimonial state centered on
ancestor worship
2. Continued and expanded on the Shang
state’s tribute system
3. Resembled some aspects of Assyrian and
Persian state-building models
4. Integrated parts of China through cultural
symbols and statecraft
C. Zhou succession and political foundation
1. Zhou legitimized takeover of Shang by
claiming moral superiority
2. Material culture showed Zhou rulers to be
well respected and able to expand empire
3. Rewarded allegiance to state with lands
that could be inherited
a. Regional lords required to supply
military forces
b. Paid tribute
c. Appeared at the imperial court to
pledge allegiance to king
D. The Zhou “Mandate of Heaven” and the
legitimization of power
1. Ideology to support a morally correct
takeover of the Shang
2. Mandate of Heaven was a compact
between the people and their god
3. Became a political doctrine rather than
religious
4. A way to defend continuity of political
structure or to argue for overthrow
E. Zhou expanded on writing system employed by
Shang
1. Used for divinations and a variety of
political practices
a. Royal speeches and grants of official
offices
2. King Mu (r. 956–918 bce) put in place
more bureaucracy and reforms
a. Writing became more essential for
records, archives, and laws
3. Creation of a revised calendar important
for legitimacy of the court
 Chapter 4 First Empires and Common Cultures in Afro- Eurasia, 1200–350 bce ◆ 51
a. Advances made in astronomy and
mathematics for better calculations
4. Material culture also indirectly gave Zhou
legitimacy
a. Emulated Shang’s large-scale bronzes
b. Used Shang artisans to make objects
because of their superior skills and
technology
F. Zhou revered predecessors and worshiped
ancestors as part of political life
G. Social structure and economic transformation
1. Hierarchical social structure
a. Zhou ruler and royal ministers
b. Hereditary nobles served as regional
lords with landholdings
i. Supplied warriors to fight in king’s
army
c. High officers at the Zhou court
d. Military caste
e. Commoners divided into occupational
strata
H. Political and legal integration based on family
structure
1. Patrilineal society
2. Strict hierarchies for men and women
a. Wealth trumped gender to a certain
extent
b. Rich women had high status in Zhou
aristocracy
3. Regional states began to construct
infrastructure to control waterways
a. Yellow River and Wei River valley
became foci
b. Irrigation works became so elaborate
they needed powerful state control,
such as Zhou dynasts, to manage system
c. Canals became trade routes linking
north and south
I. Limits and decline of Zhou power
1. Zhou state important but not superpower
like Assyria or Persia
2. Zhou ruled larger area than Shang, but
with litt le increase in centralization
3. Used military campaigns and persuasion to
keep subordinates loyal
4. To control regional lords, ritual reforms
introduced in eighth century bce
5. Invaders from north forced Zhou to flee
capital
6. Zhou model of government became the
standard for later generations
VIII. Conclusion
A. Upheavals in the territorial states of Afro-
Eurasia led to great changes in the earlier
kingdoms in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and China
B. Rise of two regional superpowers: Assyrian
Empire and Persian Empire
1. Led way through technology, trade, and
administrative strategies of expanding
states beyond their ethnic or linguistic
homelands
2. The two empires, while operating
differently, ably, and systematically,
exploited human and material resources at
great distances from the imperial centers
C. Other models of integrated but not politically
centralized states
1. Vedic people in South Asia
2. Zhou dynasts in China
D. Borderland peoples near the large empires were
able to carve out their own cultures through
trade and common language
1. Sea Peoples
2. Greeks
3. Phoenicians
4. People of Judah
E. Religious texts and the rapid spread of
monotheism mark this period
LECTURE IDEAS
Centralized and Decentralized State Systems
Helping students gain a global understanding of the range
of differences among centralized and decentralized states
through the use of historical examples is very useful, es-
pecially in a world of shift ing political powers. Using the
many states and empires exemplified in this chapter—the
growing South Asian Indian states, the Zhou dynasty in
China, the Assyrian state, and Persia—you have a range
of state practices from highly centralized (Assyria) to de-
centralized (Indian states). Use these examples to expand
on political policies, levels of bureaucracy, military struc-
tures, and so on. In addition, show students how a gov-
ernment structure is reflected in the cultural practices of
groups within the state. For example, use class structure,
the physical infrastructure, the layout of a city (Chang’an
or early Sumerian cities), and religious practices to show
the physical manifestations of a government’s policies.
Centralization and decentralization of government sys-
tems have been at the forefront of political debate since
the establishment of state structures. Th is can easily be a
52 ◆ Chapter 4 First Empires and Common Cultures in Afro-Eurasia, 1200–350 bce
theme throughout the course. You can refer to it with all
major empires and states, showing how the level of cen-
tralization affects its citizens and their freedoms as well as
how successfully it negotiates with other states.
Assyria and Genocide
As the textbook discusses, the Assyrians appear to be the
fi rst state power that employed large-scale, forcible re-
sett lement and genocide as a means to gain governmental
control. The textbook estimates that approximately 4 mil-
lion people were displaced in thirty years. What the text
only touches on is the vast range of groups that the Assyr-
ians affected. Given the increasing interest in genocide,
ethnic confl icts, and the changing nature of today’s war-
fare, this topic is highly relevant. Students need to under-
stand the historical roots of these kinds of practices. You
can form your lecture around a discussion of the known
groups of resett led peoples including the Lydians, Israel-
ites, the Phoenicians, Armenians, Sogdians, and Medes.
Citing the groups that we believe to have disappeared and
those that remain in a diaspora or in confl ict as a result of
an action taken thousands of years ago makes history very
relevant today.
The Roots of Veiling
The practice of veiling has a complex moral history. Many
modern historians have spent much time attempting to
unpack the motivations behind it. Given the multiple po-
litical and religious att itudes on veiling, a nonpartisan,
historical timeline of the practice would be useful. As the
text mentions, veiling was fi rst introduced in Assyria in
the thirteenth century bce. Middle Assyrian Law § 40
reads, “If the wives of a man, or the daughters of a man go
out into the street, their heads are to be veiled. The prosti-
tute is not to be veiled. Maidservants are not to veil them-
selves. Veiled harlots and maidservants shall have their
garments seized and fi ft y blows infl icted on them and bi-
tumen poured on their heads.”
Why did the Assyrians consider veiling necessary? At
the time, levels or classes of women had evolved. Only re-
spectable women were allowed to wear veils. Ironically, if
a slave woman accompanied a respectable woman, she
was expected to wear a veil so that she would not draw at-
tention to the “good” woman. (See the simple diagram of
women’s classes.) Some historians speculate that for men,
class was tied to the means of production, whereas for
women, class was mediated through their sexual ties to a
man. The division of women into “respectable” (attached
to one man) and “not-respectable” (not attached to one
man or free to all men) became easily identifiable when
Married lady or
her unmarried
Daughter veiled
Married
Concubine
veiled
Unmarried
Slave
Temple Harlot
Woman
Prostitute
laws concerning veiling were put into effect. Interestingly
there are strong parallels to the slow decline in goddess
worship, increases in patriarchal structures, a growing
recognition of the biology of birth, and men’s need to
know the paternity of children.
Ashoka and His Views on Religious Tolerance
The concepts of human rights, tolerance, and multicul-
turalism are not new but actually are ancient. The text-
book briefly touches on leaders such as Cyrus and, later,
Ashoka. That does not mean that Cyrus the Great of
Persia (r. 559–529 bce) (see p. 152) was a pacifist or dis-
banded his army. It does mean that the concept of human
rights, often considered as born of the Enlightenment,
in fact existed among some peoples in the sixth cen-
tury bce. During archaeological excavations at Baby-
lon (1879–1882), an archaeologist unearthed a small
clay, barrel-shaped cylinder with an order from Cyrus
the Great. Now in the British Museum, the order was a
policy on what to do with those who had been sent into
diaspora by the Assyrians: “I [Cyrus] gathered all their
[former] inhabitants and returned [to them] their habita-
tions.” You might do well to spend time on how humans
promote living peaceably as well as on how humans
abuse each other. A lecture on Cyrus the Great and this
seal, which was named by the UN as the fi rst document
on human rights, would be a worthy topic. You could add
the later leader Ashoka, who tried to create an empire of
religious tolerance, became a vegetarian, and swore to
never kill another living thing. Both leaders promoted
literacy, public health care, and openness of public in-
formation, among other innovative ideas. For context,
have your students read the primary source document or
documents giving the Hebrews permission to return to
their homeland after they were dispossessed by the As-
 Chapter 4 First Empires and Common Cultures in Afro- Eurasia, 1200–350 bce ◆ 53
syrians and Babylonians, “The Decree of Return for the
Jews,” 539 bce, available at:
Internet History Sourcebook
www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/539cyrus1.html
The World’s First Charter of the Human Rights
www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/History/hakhamaneshian/
Cyrus-the-great/cyrus_cylinder.htm
Lead students chronologically through Cyrus’s ascent
to power and the regions he conquered. Once you have
set the context, you can begin to discuss how he allowed
the various groups to return to their homelands. (Th is is
discussed briefly in the text; however, returning, and re-
turning with freedoms are two different things.) Discuss
his social policies, municipal plans, plans for dealing with
outside encroachment, for education, and so on. Cyrus al-
lowed freedom of worship and some degree of self-rule.
Most important, show the outcome of his choice of rule.
Was it successful? Why or why not?
If you choose to follow this kind of theme you might
wish to mention that approximately three hundred years
later, Ashoka would try the same idea. The Mauryan Em-
pire was very successful. Out of it arose a strong, universal
Buddhism and a stronger India. Ashoka was a much-loved
ruler who made great changes in the region that is today
northern India and parts of Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq,
and Iran. More information about Ashoka will be made
available in chapter 6.
CLASS ACTIVITIES
Ancestor Worship among the Ancient Chinese
Many early cultures practiced a form of ancestor worship
that we have great difficulty understanding. Reading these
words and truly beginning to comprehend the signifi-
cance of ancestors to a culture are very different. To help
students begin to understand ancestor worship, fi rst show
them a very brief clip from the Disney fi lm Mulan. You can
cue it up in advance so that you can provide the context
for the clip, show it, and then have the discussion. The fact
that you are showing a fi lm that many of them are famil-
iar with usually draws their attention. In the fi lm, there
is a scene in which the daughter, Mulan, has left home to
fight in her father’s place. The scene opens in the garden,
in the family temple. Humorous as it is, it does an admira-
ble job of expressing the significance of family honor, the
belief that the ancestors can and do protect the family, the
long-term disaster to the whole family if Mulan makes a
mistake, and other aspects of ancestor worship. The man-
ner in which these ideas are delivered makes the informa-
tion all the more resonant for your students. Show the fi lm
clip, then ask your students to evaluate what they believe
this comedy can tell them about Chinese belief about an-
cestors and the relationships of the living with their fore-
bears. Then ask them how these beliefs might shape the
behaviors of the living. Have them write their answers
down; consider breaking them into groups so that they
can discuss and create group answers. After about fi fteen
minutes of group discussion, bring the class back together
for an overall discussion. Expand the meaning of ancestor
worship, the influence it has on the culture, the rituals in-
volved in the worship, and if time permits, how significant
these beliefs are today in Chinese culture.
Persian Music
Ancient Persian or Iranian music can be traced back to
approximately the second and third millennium bce. It is
difficult to fi nd music that is free of the influence of other
cultures, such as Muslim cantillation and Judaic tradi-
tion. Enough records exist, including drawings, statues,
and writings, that artists have been able to recreate some
semblance of traditional Persian music from the Elamite
Period. Music and musical instruments offer yet another
way to analyze a society. In ancient Persia, forms of guitars
and lutes were used, as were flutes. Around 800 bce, an
instrument called the barbat was invented. Persian music
was so important to the courts and religious rituals that
even the Greek historian Herodotus mentioned its role in
the worship of the god Mithra, before Zoroastrianism be-
came the state religion. Some forms of traditional Persian
music are vocal. Often vocalists were considered crucial
to the music in court ritual, because they decided which
poems and songs to sing and what mood to express.
Play a selection of Persian (Iranian) music with the
poems translated (see the Web Sites section). It is help-
ful if you can provide students with pictures of, or ideally
real, instruments so that you can identify for them what
instruments are playing when. Numerous sites go into
detail regarding musical structure and tonal quality of
the instruments and voices. Or you can simply help your
students evaluate what emotions the music evokes in rela-
tion to how a particular piece of music was used (religious
ritual, court ritual, entertainment) and how it differs from
what they are familiar with. Explain when and how it was
performed, who was allowed to participate, and so on.
Traditional Iranian music has experienced a strong re-
surgence. Below are two Web sites where you can access
short clips. However, consider checking with your library.
There are plenty of good recordings of traditional music,
many with well-done analysis. In this instance make sure
to look for music that is pre-Islamic as the instruments
and the sound and tonal quality changed dramatically.
54 ◆ Chapter 4 First Empires and Common Cultures in Afro-Eurasia, 1200–350 bce
For more details see the recommended books section at
the end of this chapter.
Many students will fi nd it difficult to evaluate this
music. The object of the exercise is to stretch them. Even
though they may have trouble answering the questions,
by asking them, you create a place of increased interest in
which they can hear your answers when you discuss the
music as a group.
Sound files of classical Persian music:
www.iranianradio.com/radio/iranianradio-sonati128.
php?fi le=pls
Museum of World Music
www.museumofworldmusic.com/Ptm.html
The History of Sericulture
There is a bitter irony in the fact that over time the demand
for silk only grew—it was one of China’s most important
products—yet the labor of silk making was considered
solely the work of “inconsequential” women. In this activ-
ity students will receive a brief account of the history of
sericulture. Then as they explore the exacting process that
is required to make silk, you will provide them with a va-
riety of different silks that they can handle. Often all this
takes is going into the closet, pulling out a few things from
your linens, and you have, without even realizing it, five or
six silk items. Ideally, show students a variety of silks such
as raw silk, brocade shot through with gold, silk gauze, or
shantung. If you live in a cold area, you may even have silk
long underwear. As you will be reminded by reading this
brief history of silk, it is also used for industrial products,
so providing any of the following would be useful: fishing
nets, kites and parachutes, surgical thread, or embroidery
floss. I acquired a silk cocoon as well as a length of the raw
silk fi lament for students to look at as well. Silk cocoons
are larger than you might imagine. Once the students have
had the opportunity to read the material and look at the
variety of products, discuss questions such as these: Does
there appear to be a disconnect between the source of
China’s income during this period and the role of women
in China. Silk was so valuable that at times it was actually
used as a form of currency. Why was the preparation of
something so valuable given to a group within society that
was considered inconsequential? Th is is especially true in
earliest Chinese history, when only the elite were allowed
to wear silk. How do students think this situation might
have evolved?
the history of sericulture
Archeologists have discovered ribbon, thread, and
woven fragments dating from approximately 3000 bce
in the Yellow River valley. Discoveries of a small ivory
cup carved with a silkworm design, spinning tools, silk
thread and silk fragments have been made along the lower
Yangzi River. The art of silk making is not a new process.
According to Chinese tradition, knowledge of silkworm
farming, spinning, and weaving were brought to the peo-
ple as a gift by the wife of the mythical Yellow Emperor,
Lady Hsi Ling Shih. The Yellow Emperor was said to rule
China around 3000 bce, the period from which many of
the discoveries are carbon dated. As legend tells it, Lady
Hsi Ling Shih, who became the goddess of silk, gave her
people the secrets of raising silkworms, gathering the co-
coons, and unwinding the silk thread from the cocoons.
She also gave the Chinese the loom so that once they had
the silk fi lament, they could weave cloth. Each spring, the
empress inaugurated the silk-raising season, for silk pro-
duction was the work of women all over China. The silk
season opened with parades in the goddess’s honor. The
process itself was so complex that the Chinese state wrote
the secrets to successful silk making in the Book of Rites,
one of the few books to survive the purges of the Qin dy-
nasty. Anyone who revealed the secret of silk making out-
side China risked the punishment of death. For over two
thousand years the Chinese successfully kept the secret to
themselves. Great confusion persisted over the source of
silk, as is apparent from the early writings of Greeks and
Romans.
It is useful to understand what is involved in creating a
length of silk. First of all, only one moth is capable of creat-
ing the cocoon needed—the blind, fl ightless Bombyx mori
moth. Other worms can be used, but this particular moth
generates the fi nest silk. The moth wasn’t always blind or
fl ightless; through thousands of years of breeding by the
Chinese, the moth has evolved into this state. The Bom-
byx mori lays approximately 500 eggs in four to six days
and then dies. Each egg is about the size of a pinpoint. At
this stage, families maintained and fed the worms within
the home, much like a farming process. When the eggs
hatched, the family had to feed the worms, which only ate
mulberry leaves. With 30,000 worms, a family needed to
provide a ton of mulberry leaves. The worms and then the
cocoons had to be kept in just the right conditions. Usu-
ally the families built floor-to-ceiling racks with mesh
trays for the worms and then the cocoons. They could pull
out each tray and check it over the course of the cycle and
continuously monitor the insects’ needs. For example,
strong smells or loud noises disrupted the worms’ abil-
ity to build a quality cocoon. Owners couldn’t farm silk
near a fish market or come in from the fields sweaty and
work with the cocoons. There could be no shouting or
loud banging. Also, the worms could not be placed where
there was a draft and needed warm dry places. Once the
 Chapter 4 First Empires and Common Cultures in Afro- Eurasia, 1200–350 bce ◆ 55
cocoons were complete, the women left them on the racks
for approximately eight days. Then they either steamed or
baked the cocoons to kill the pupae inside. Once this was
done, the cocoon was dipped in hot water to loosen the
silk fi lament, which was gently unwound. Each cocoon
provided anywhere from 600 to 900 meters of fi lament.
It took between five and eight fi laments twisted together
to make a thread in processes called reeling and spinning.
The reeling, dyeing, and spinning was also done in the
home by women.
Weaving the silk into lengths of cloth and embroidering
it was done in workshops as well as in the home. At this
point men sometimes became involved in the process.
However, in all the silk-producing provinces, all genera-
tions of women spent large parts of each day tending to the
silkworms for six months out of the year as well as spin-
ning, embroidering, and weaving. Out of those original
30,000 worms one can theoretically end up with twelve
pounds of raw silk.
Initially silk was reserved only for aristocracy—the
emperor, his close relatives and closest advisors. As more
uses for silk were discovered it became widely available
and in a variety of prices. Eventually, even the common
people were able to wear garments of silk. Much later, dur-
ing the Han dynasty, silk became a form of currency. The
government paid salaries with it, and farmers paid their
taxes with it. The value of items was calculated in lengths
of silk just as we might calculate the purchase of a car in
dollars.
Sericum
penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/
secondary/SMIGRA*/Sericum.html
Technology: The Development
of Dikes and Irrigation
With the building of empires, cities spread away from
their water sources. The need for efficient and large-scale
movement of water became more pressing. Every civiliza-
tion developed methods of irrigation, some distinctly dif-
ferent from others. For this activity, provide your students
with descriptions, sketches, and photographs of three
forms of irrigation that are mentioned in chapters 3 and 4.
Have them, either working alone or in groups, review the
technology of the three and
1. Describe the key characteristics of each system.
2. List the differences among the three.
3. Speculate on why the differences may have evolved.
Would one system have worked in place of another?
Suggest that students consider soil composition, weather,
distance from water source, use of water along the route,
crops being irrigated, and so on.
These three irrigation systems provide a good basis for
analysis. The accompanying links also have photographs
and/or sketches to accompany the descriptions.
The Qanats of Iran
users.bart.nl/~leenders/txt/qanats.html
Chinampa Agricultural System
www.fao.org/sd/giahs/other_mexico2_desc.asp
Library ThinkQuest: Aztec Chinampas
library.thinkquest.org/C006206F/Fotos%20
Aztecas_i.htm
Water History
www.waterhistory.org/histories/nile/
Another useful generic source is
Ancient Irrigation
www.geology.ucdavis.edu/~cowen/~GEL115/115CH
17oldirrigation.html
RECOMMENDED FILMS
■ Carthage (Lost Treasures of the Ancient World Series,
50 min.). Although created by an independent agency,
this series has been aired by both PBS and Discovery
channel. One of the few fi lms about research on Carthage,
this fi lm utilizes state-of-the-art technology and the lat-
est scholarship to try to recreate Carthaginian life. Com-
bining on-location footage with period reconstructions
and computer graphics, the historical team offers view-
ers a quite amazing glimpse into a city-state that is now
thought to be the site of the world’s fi rst genocide.
■ China: Heritage of the Wild Dragon (59 min.). Using the
input of multiple experts, the directors of China focus on
Bronze Age China and the contributions of the Shang
dynasty. The Shang are thought to be responsible for the
oracle bones, the development of writing, the concept of
T’ien Ming and other social structures. The fi lm shows
archival footage of the excavation of Yinxu, from the Qin
dynasty.
■ In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great (four-part series).
Th is PBS documentary, narrated by Michael Wood, re-
traces the arduous journey of Alexander the Great and
his army as they conquered sixteen countries and trav-
eled 20,000 miles. Engaging, relevant, and historically
thoughtful, any of these fi lms can prove useful. Just choose
the one that covers the area on which you are lecturing.
Part 1, “Son of God,” recounts Alexander’s most difficult
batt le at the city of Tyre, the legend of Two-Horned Alex-
56 ◆ Chapter 4 First Empires and Common Cultures in Afro-Eurasia, 1200–350 bce
ander, and the point at which Alexander was proclaimed
pharaoh, son of god, at an Egyptian oasis. Part 2, “Lord of
Asia,” covers Alexander’s crossing of Iran. Wood talks to
modern nomads about the oral history of Alexander’s love
for an Amazon queen and Iranians whose ancestors were
enemies of Alexander. Part 3, “Across the Hindu Kush,”
shows Wood’s travels through war-torn Afghanistan and
along the Silk Road. At Samarkand he stops at the place
where Alexander killed his friend in a drunken brawl. Part
4, “To the Ends of the Earth,” takes Wood from the Khy-
ber Pass through Pakistan. Here Alexander’s army would
go no further. He agreed to return to Babylon, where he
died at 32 years of age. A website with teacher resources
is available at:
www.mpt.org/programsinterests/mpt/alexander/
■ Moses (1996, 188 min.). This feature-length film is based
on stories from the Old Testament book of Exodus, re-
counting the forced migration of the Hebrews from Egypt
and their transition from polytheism to monotheism from
the biblical perspective. It allows you to teach many possi-
ble themes (see Lecture Ideas, p. 51). Originally shown as
a television miniseries, the fi lm tells the story of the great
Biblical prophet Moses. Filmed in Morocco and starring
Ben Kingsley, it is often said to be one of the most histori-
cally accurate of the biblical fi lms.
■ Nefertiti and the Lost Dynasty (National Geographic,
50 min.). Nefertiti, the wife of Akhenaten, wielded tre-
mendous power as queen of Egypt. Considered one of the
most beautiful women in history, she has been accused of
aiding her husband in the destruction of Egypt’s power. It
has also been suggested that she was one of the few voices
of reason during his reign. National Geographic looks at
the life of Nefertiti, her physical remains, and aspects of
the dynasty she helped head. It also includes a bonus “Fact
File” that you could use to form the lecture suggested in
the Lecture Ideas section.
■ Quest for the Phoenicians (National Geographic, 2004,
60 min.). Th is National Geographic fi lm uses the latest sci-
entific know-how to retrace the roots of the Phoenicians
and their impact on trade along the coast of the Mediter-
ranean and Black Seas. Using genetics from excavations
and bones found at archaeological sites in Lebanon, the
director combines the past and the present in this attempt
to learn more about the Phoenicians’ contributions to the
world.
■ Samson and Delilah (1996, 180 min.). This story, made
into a miniseries, derives from the Old Testament book of
Judges, thus offering a fruitful source of discussion on the
history of the Israelites. Given that the sett ing is Gaza, you
can also bring the discussion into the present day and the
confl ict between the Palestinians and the Israeli state. Ac-
tors Dennis Hopper and Diana Rigg offer performances
that raise the quality of this commercially made fi lm and
make it appropriate for class use. One downside is the em-
phasis the screenwriter placed on Samson’s search for a
purpose in life. Th is is a modern kind of goal and situates
this aspect of the story in the modern world. The anarchy
of the period is emphasized (approximately 1100 bce).
You could use this fi lm to lead into a discussion on the
need for the various law codes that were being adopted
during this time.
RECOMMENDED READING
Gerda Lerner, 1986. Creation of Patriarchy. “Chapter 6
Veiling the Woman.”
Lloyd Miller, 1999. Music and Song in Persia: The Art of
Avaz.
Sarah B. Pomeroy. Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves:
Women in Classical Antiquity.
Historical Fiction
These texts are both good sources to consider assigning to your
students as additional reading.
Anita Diamant, 1998. The Red Tent.
Th is text is useful if you are teaching a world civilization
course with a feminist perspective. It is based on the life
of Dinah from the Old Testament story of Abraham and
thus draws on many social changes of the time, including
the Jewish shift from polytheism to monotheism, matriar-
chy to patriarchy, and the growing illegitimacy of the Isra-
elites among increasingly more powerful cultures.
Susan Whitfield, 1998. Life along the Silk Road.
Whitfield is a foremost authority on the Silk Road. Th is
text offers a number of discrete stories in different time
frames and locations. You can use the whole book or por-
tions of it at various times in the semester. It is exception-
ally well done in terms of historical detail.
WEB SITES
Ancient History Sourcebook: Kurash (Cyrus) the Great: The
Decree of Return for the Hebrews, 539 b.c.e.
Source for primary documents
www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/539cyrus1.html
A Commentary on Cyrus
General history of Cyrus the Great’s rule
www.herodotuswebsite.co.uk/cyrus.htm
 Chapter 4 First Empires and Common Cultures in Afro- Eurasia, 1200–350 bce ◆ 57

Cyrus and Human Rights Music of Iran

www.cais-soas.com/CAIS/History/
hakhamaneshian/Cyrus-the-great/cyrus_cylinder.
htm
Iranian Radio
www.iranianradio.com/radio/iranianradio-
sonati128.php?fi le=pls
Museum of World Music
Includes sound clips and history
www.museumofworldmusic.com/Ptm.html
Includes sound clips and history
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_of_Iran
The Qanats of Iran
Offers a detailed analysis and diagrams of the qanat
system
users.bart.nl/~leenders/txt/qanats.html
CH A PTER 5
Worlds Turned Inside Out,
1000–350 bce
▶ Alternative Pathways and Ideas
▶ Eastern Zhou China (770–221 bce)
The Spring and Autumn Period
The Warring States Period
Innovations in State Administration
Innovations in Warfare
Economic, Social, and Cultural Changes
New Ideas and the “Hundred Masters”
▶ The New Worlds of South Asia
The Rise of New Polities
Expansion of the Caste System
New Cities and An Expanding Economy
Brahmans, Their Challengers, and New Beliefs
Dissident Th inkers
Mahavira and Jainism
Buddha and Buddhism
▶ Common Cultures in the Americas
The Chavin in the Andes (1400–200 bce)
The Olmecs in Mesoamerica
Cities as Sacred Centers
Humans, Nature, and Time
LECTURE OUTLINE
Th is chapter shows how an age of political turmoil in
many places of the world was also an era of great intel-
lectual and cultural activities. The chapter begins with a
discussion of Confucius. Out of a warring China, he be-
came a believer in ideas rather than warfare. It also looks
at “second-generation” cultures on the rise in China,
South Asia, the Americas, and Africa, as well in the Med-
iterranean basin. New ideas about religion, government,
and society along with technological advances emerged.
Sometimes, as in the Americas, there was no model for
these changes. In other places such as China and South
Asia, earlier civilizations offered models for the new, de-
veloping cultures.
58
A World of Social Distinctions
The Decline of Urban Centers
▶ Common Cultures in Sub-Saharan Africa
Meroe: Between Sudanic Africa and Pharaonic
Egypt
West African Kingdoms
▶ Warring Ideas in the Mediterranean World
A New World of City-States
Self-Government and Democracy
Families as the Foundational Units
Competition and War
Economic Innovations and Population
Movement
Free Markets and Money-Based Economies
Trade and Colonization
Humans for Sale: Slaves and Slavery
Encounters with Frontier Communities
New Ideas
Naturalistic Science and Realistic Art
New Th inking and Greek Philosophers
I. Alternative Pathways and Ideas
A. During the fi rst millennium bce, societies on
the edge of regional empires began to break
from the dynastic regimes and forge their own
paths
1. They experimented with new types of
political and social organization
2. New ideas arose in these border societies
3. New ideas for warfare and expansion
a. Zhou China
b. Greece
c. Levant
d. Mexico
B. Second-generation societies borrowed
from older communities, but they also came
 Chapter 5 Worlds Turned Inside Out, 1000–350 bce ◆ 59
up with dramatic innovations that set them
apart
2. Competition in warfare
3. Batt les over ideas produced political and
social innovations
4. Bold thinkers often lived in these societies
a. Confucius in China
b. Buddha in the Indus Valley
c. Philosophers of the Greek city-states
C. The age of great ideas produced debate over
what was best for humanity
II. Eastern Zhou China (770–221 bce)
A. During the fi rst millennium bce China saw
political and cultural innovations
1. Looked to the past for ideas about
governing
a. Stressed elaborate court protocol and
rituals
b. Importance of hierarchy of authority in
family and state
B. After fleeing invaders, the Zhou established
their capital in Luoyang
1. Spring and Autumn period (722–481 bce)
2. Warring States period (403–221 bce)
C. The Spring and Autumn period (722–481 bce)
1. China was not politically unified—145
Zhou tributary states
2. Violence among states led to political and
social changes
a. Regional states forged alliances and met
for conferences under a ba (senior one)
b. New administrative units formed to
conscript men for the army and collect
taxes
c. Land ownership became merit based
d. Southern states of Chu, Wu, and Yue
came to recognize Zhou culture
3. Central states served as a buffer zone
between the large peripheral states and
ended up swearing allegiance to the
peripheral states
4. Increase in political anarchy simultaneous
with technological advancements
a. New smelting techniques led to stronger
iron swords and armor
b. Cheaper and better weapons shifted
influence from central government to
local authorities
c. Regional states built their own
infrastructure improvements
i. In 486 bce, Wu state built the
Grand Canal linking the Yellow
River with the Yangzi River
ii. Built by peasants pressed into labor
by Zhou regional lords
D. The Warring States period (403–221 bce)
1. Seven large territorial states emerged
with more power than the central Zhou
leadership
2. Wars between 500 and 400 bce led to the
downfall of the Zhou dynasty
3. Qin emerged as the strongest state and
replaced the Zhou dynasty in 221 bce
4. New types of statecraft emerged as warring
states negotiated treaties, fought batt les,
and traded with each other
5. Despite the chaos of the time, many of
the fundamental beliefs, values, and
philosophies that became the foundation
for later dynasties developed
E. Innovations in state administration
1. Many states reorganized their
administrative structures
a. Created administrative districts with
various officials
b. Registration of peasant households
i. Helped with tax collection
ii. Facilitated army conscription
iii. Monitored rural population
and punished those who did not
comply
c. Officials were drawn from the shi
i. Called gentlemen or superior men
by Confucius
ii. Partners of the ruler in state affairs
iii. Paid salaries in grain or gold
d. Shang Yang of Qin most successful
minister
i. Carried out wide-ranging reforms
for the Qin state
F. Innovations in warfare
1. Armies became larger and relied on a mass
infantry made up of conscripted peasants
led by professional officer corps
2. New weapon technologies
a. Crossbows
b. Siege warfare
i. Counterweighted siege ladders
(cloud ladders) used to scale urban
walls
ii. Tunnels dug under walls
60 ◆ Chapter 5 Worlds Turned Inside Out, 1000–350 bce
a. Defenders fi lled tunnels with
smoke
c. War campaigns lasted years, not seasons
d. Commanders plotted strategies by
assessing what troops were best fitted
for types of campaigns
G. Economic, social, and cultural changes
1. Warring states spurred China’s economic
growth
a. Agricultural revolution
i. Population explosion
ii. Growth in population led to
environmental changes
a. Fuel needs led to deforestation
b. Erosion of fields
c. Fewer animals to hunt
2. Reform during Spring and Autumn period
gave peasants land
a. Productivity increased with new
technologies
i. Crop rotation
ii. Iron plowshares pulled by oxen
b. Surplus agricultural products were
traded for market goods
i. Early coins helped with trade
3. Continued reform during the Warring
States period
a. Strong military
b. Better infrastructure such as roads,
walls, forts, and towers
c. Used military management to build
public works projects
4. Economic growth led to higher level of
cultural sophistication
a. Elaborate palaces and burial sites
b. Rewards for soldiers and government
officials
5. Economic change did not promote gender
equality
a. Male-centered kinship groups grew
b. Contact between men and women
became more ritualized and codified
6. Chinese material culture reveals changes
during this time as more common people
had access to formerly elite-only objects
H. New ideas and the “Hundred Masters”
1. Loss of status led political elites to seek
new ways to gain prominence
a. Intellectual creativity and important
teachers emerged
b. Confucius best known
c. Philosophy known as the Hundred
Schools of Thought
2. Confucius taught hundreds of students and
acquired 70 core disciplines
a. He left no writing of his own
b. Followers transmitted his teaching after
his death
i. The Analects
c. Confucius set out a new moral
framework for government that
emphasized merit over birthright as well
as perfection of moral character
d. His ideas departed from those of past
centuries
3. Mohism (teachings of Mozi) was a
competing school of thought
a. Mozi emphasized practical concerns of
good government
b. Opposed wars of conquest
c. Main appeal was to city dwellers
4. Daoism
a. Stressed the dao (the way) of nature and
the cosmos
b. The ruler who interfered the least in
the natural processes of change was the
most successful
5. Legalism/Statism
a. From the writings of Xunzi
b. Need strict moral code and laws to keep
people in line
6. Scholars and the state became inseparable
and became a lasting tradition in Chinese
society
a. Speculated on issues of governance
b. Promoted the use of writing, a
fundamental tool of statecraft
c. Th is period was fundamental in empire
building for the Chinese dynasties
III. The New World of South Asia
A. The rise of new polities
1. Significant political and social
transformation began about 600 bce
with the expansion of the Vedic peoples
eastward to the mid-Ganges plain
2. Brahmans, upper-class priests and scholars,
led way to changing the new lands
3. Agricultural reforms led to the emergence
of towns that gave way to territorial states
4. The Sixteen States period led to quarrels
over territory but no unified state emerged
 Chapter 5 Worlds Turned Inside Out, 1000–350 bce ◆ 61
5. Buddhism challenged the authority of
Vedic sacrifices
B. Two major types of states
1. Hereditary monarchs
2. Small, elected elites or oligarchies
C. Two types of leaders emerge in the city-states
1. Kshatriya, a type of aristocracy
2. Raja (king)
a. In some city-states they were elected
officials who ruled collectively
b. Often the rajas came from low-status
clans
c. Folk tales reveal that some rajas tried
to raise their status through marrying
women of high-status clans
D. Expansion of the caste system
1. Various city-states shared caste system
2. Economic changes led to the expansion
of the caste system beyond the three tiers
(Brahmans, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas)
3. Shudras were tenants/peasants in the
agricultural economy
a. Denied the “twice-born” ceremony
b. Remained outsiders in the Brahman-
dominated society
4. Shudras developed their own social
hierarchy known as the jati
5. Other jati emerged as labor specialized
6. Each jati had its own ritual status,
depending on trade
E. New cities and an expanding economy
1. Agricultural surpluses led to the need for
markets
2. Cities rose up where markets appeared
a. Litt le city planning
b. Good sanitation
c. Litt le archaeology because of
continuous inhabitation
i. Taxila one city excavated in
twentieth century
3. Rural households moved to the city and
served as brokers between farms and
markets
4. Bankers emerged, fi nancing trade and
industry
5. Less affluent took up trades in craft work
a. Traders and artisans formed guilds to
regulate trade and support families
b. Guilds eventually transformed into jati
c. Guild leaders wielded fi nancial
influence in the cities
6. Traders and bankers created coins and
determined value
7. Many new professions emerged in the cities
8. Despite the rigid caste system, more social
mobility was possible in the cities
9. Poverty led some to seek work in the cities
a. Cities more fi nancially unstable
b. Created a new caste of those who did
least desirable jobs
c. “Untouchable” caste kept cities clean
and healthy
d. Dissatisfied with their lot,
“untouchables” sought ways to
challenge the status quo imposed by the
Brahman priests
F. Brahmans, their challengers, and new beliefs
1. Fearful of changes wrought by urban life
and literacy, the Brahmans looked for a way
to reestablish order
a. Endowed kings with divine power
b. Gods selected Manu and promised him
rewards
2. Emphasis on divine kingship created
tensions within South Asian society
a. Brahman claim to moral authority
caused resentment in the oligarchic
republics
b. New kinds of thinking raised challenges
to the Vedic past
G. Dissident thinkers
1. Dissident South Asian thinkers challenged
Brahman religious institutions
a. Refused to recognize Vedic gods
b. Vedic and non-Vedic challenges
i. Upanishads
H. Mahavira and Jainism
1. Ideas of Jainism popularized by
Vardhamana Mahavira (c. 540–468 bce)
a. Religious doctrines emphasize
asceticism over knowledge
b. Believed every living thing had a soul
c. Became a religion of traders and city
dwellers
2. Strict nonviolent doctrine influenced later
South Asian thinkers
I. Buddha and Buddhism
1. Siddhartha Guatama (Buddha—the
“Enlightened One”) directly challenged
traditional Brahman thinking
2. He denied the elaborate cosmology of the
Brahmans
62 ◆ Chapter 5 Worlds Turned Inside Out, 1000–350 bce
3. His background influenced his ideas
4. His teachings can be summarized as the
Four Truths
a. Life, from birth to death, is full of
suffering
b. All sufferings are caused by desires
c. The only way to rise above suffering is to
renounce desire
d. Only through adherence to the Noble
Eightfold Path can individuals rid
themselves of desire and the illusion of
separate identity and thus reach a state
of contentment, or nirvana
i. Eightfold way includes three
categories: wisdom, ethical
behavior, and mental discipline
5. Simple, clear teachings were very appealing
to non-Brahmans
6. Delivered his dissident message in
colloquial dialect of Sanskrit
a. Att racted many followers who formed a
group of monks known as sangha
b. Buddha and followers preferred to
preach in cities
c. Buddhism offered people an alternative
to the Varna system
IV. Common Cultures in the Americas
A. Early inhabitants of America lived in dispersed
villages. Some contact took place over time,
especially where travel by canoe was possible
1. Did not have domesticable animals
2. Wheel was not used for hauling or
transportation
B. The Chavín in the Andes (1400–200 bce)
1. Lived in the Andes Mountains of present-
day Peru
2. Around 1400 bce, united around a shared
belief system
3. Societies organized vertically because of
their mountain homes
a. Valleys gave them tropical and
subtropical produce
b. Maize and other crops grew further up
the mountains
c. Highlands produced potatoes, and
llamas were raised for wool and
fertilizer
i. Llamas could be used for carrying
packs but not people
4. By 900 bce Chavín created advanced
textiles, carvings, and metalwork
a. Limited trade network to areas outside
the mountains
5. Overall much diversity within the Chavín
but shared an artistic tradition motivated
by devotion to gods
a. Spiritual capital was Chavín de
Huantar, in present-day northern Peru
i. Priests communicated with gods
through the use of hallucinogenic
drugs
ii. Chavín made pilgrimages with
tribute to the temple
6. Chavín created devotional cults that
focused on wild animals, such as jaguars,
serpents, and hawks, as representatives of
spiritual forces
7. Created the fi rst great art style of the Andes
C. The Olmecs in Mesoamerica
1. First advanced civilization emerged around
1500 bce in central Mexico
a. Olmec meant “inhabitants of the land of
rubber”
2. First-generation, small-scale community
trying to create new political and economic
institutions
a. Formed themselves into a loose
confederation of villages
b. Traded with each other, shared a
common language, and worshiped the
same gods
3. Eventually the small villages came together
into a single culture that spread its beliefs
and influence throughout the surrounding
region
4. During village life, most Olmecs practiced
subsistence farming
a. Raised maize, beans, squash, and
cacao
5. Trade networks developed between
villages for surplus produce, ceramics, and
precious goods used for ritual purposes
D. Cities as sacred centers
1. Religious and secular hubs used by
surrounding hamlets
a. Specialized buildings such as
earthworks, platforms, palaces, and
plazas
i. Vassal labor built massive central
platform at San Lorenzo
b. Courtyards contained sculpture and
artificial lagoons
2. No large permanent population
 Chapter 5 Worlds Turned Inside Out, 1000–350 bce ◆ 63
3. Worship of gods took place in the primary
cities
a. Huge pits were used for giving offerings
4. Olmec art reflected both the natural and
supernatural
a. Were-jaguar (part man, part animal)
common figure in art
5. Ceremonial life revolved around
agriculture and rain cycles
E. Cities as athletic hubs
1. Ball courts part of every city
a. Game played with a hard rubber ball
b. Players memorialized in statuary
c. Possible actual or ritualized sacrifice of
players
2. Olmecs practiced human sacrifice and
ritual warfare
F. Humans, nature, and time
1. Olmec cosmology based on the
relationship between natural and
supernatural worlds
2. Th is belief led to investigation of the
natural world
a. Faith and science intertwined
G. A world of social distinctions
1. Olmecs had a complex social hierarchy
2. Priests and chieftains dominated the
highest social order
3. Though not outright militaristic, the
Olmec culture did become widespread in
the region
a. A merchant class seems to have been
heavily involved in the export-import
business
H. The decline of urban centers
1. Not clear why the Olmec culture declined
2. No single explanation accounts for the
abandonment of the religious centers
3. Olmec heritage was transmitted and
influenced other Mesoamericans as new
cultures came to prominence
V. Common Cultures in Sub-Saharan Africa
A. Certain geographic regions emerged as
population centers
1. Nile Valley most populated
2. Climate changes divided the rest of the
continent
a. Sahara Desert
b. Sahel
c. Sudanic savanna region
d. Western and central African rain forests
3. Distinct ways of life emerged in each area
B. Meroe: Between Sudanic Africa and Pharaonic
Egypt
1. Meroe most developed of the Sudanic
kingdoms
a. Historically known as Nubia
2. One of the only areas known to peoples
outside of Africa
a. Had been in contact with and
conquered through its history by Egypt
b. Also had strong connections to sub-
Saharan Africa
3. Meroe established in the fourth century
bce
a. Influenced by pharaonic culture
i. Wrote with hieroglyphs
ii. Erected pyramids
b. To prove autonomy from Egypt, moved
capital 300 miles upstream
c. Th riving center of production and
commerce
d. Walled city contained monumental
buildings
C. West African Kingdoms
1. Sett lements established along Niger River
by Mande peoples such as the Jenne and
Gao
2. Nok culture established in the sixth
century bce
a. Taruga saw early iron smelting
b. People moved from stone to iron use
c. Their technology and commodities
spread east and west
d. People from Nok migrated into central
African rain forests to farm
e. Nok best known for terra-cotta figurines
discovered in the 1940s
3. Iron tools led to improved farming
techniques
a. More food could be grown
b. Supported larger communities
c. Population increases from 400 bce to
the new millennium
VI. Warring Ideas in the Mediterranean World
A. Violent upheavals and chaos created new ways
of organizing second-generation societies
1. Seaborne peoples of the Mediterranean
basin shared common traits
a. Carried goods and ideas that they
shared
i. Maritime technology
64 ◆ Chapter 5 Worlds Turned Inside Out, 1000–350 bce
a. New ships and sails allowed for
faster and easier sailing
b. Homer’s Odyssey recounts
maritime adventures
ii. Phoenician sailors may have
circumnavigated African continent
and may have traveled even farther
iii. General Hano wrote of his
adventures on West African coast
in 500 bce
B. A new world of city-states
1. With order restored in the ninth and eighth
centuries bce, independent, self-governing
city-states were created
a. City-states characterized by family-
based associations of citizens who ruled
collectively
b. Commercial centers managed exchange
and trade
2. Self-government and democracy
a. Known as qart (Phoenician), polis
(Greek), or civitas (Roman)
b. Not run by elites or by a strong central
authority
c. “Citizens” of the city-states governed
themselves and selected their leaders
d. Self-government took many forms
i. Rule by popularly approved chief
called a tyrannos (tyrant)
ii. Rule by a few wealthy and
powerful citizens called oligoi
(oligarchies)
iii. Rule by all free adult males called a
demokratia (democracy)
iv. City-states composed of adult male
citizens, other free persons, foreign
immigrants, and unfreed persons
v. Only adult free males had full
citizenship rights
vi. Each city-state decided how to gov-
ern itself and make laws, so there
was much variety among them
3. Families as the foundational unit
a. Small family unit (oikos, household)
most important social unit
b. Male centered; men ruled over
household (wife, children, and slaves)
c. Women had litt le public role
i. Those who carried on
conversations in public were
labeled hetairai (courtesans)
d. Spartan women exception
i. Exercised alongside men
ii. Held property in their own right
4. Competition and war
a. Much competition and violent rivalries
within the city-state
b. Sparta the exception because of its
social organization of discipline and
military order
i. Sparta had no coined money or
chattel slavery
ii. Considered very unusual by other
city-states
c. Rivalries took the form of athletic
competition
i. Olympic games staged fi rst in
Olympia, Greece, in 776 bce
d. Frequent wars among the city-states
over land, trade, religion, and resources
i. Constant warfare helped in the
development of better military
equipment and batt le tactics
a. Blocklike infantry formation
known as the phalanx (Greek)
ii. Peloponnesian War (431–404
bce) longest and most destructive,
fought between Athens and Sparta
iii. Wars among city-states made them
stronger against external forces
a. Athens able to defeat Persia in
fi ft h century
C. Economic innovations and population
movement
1. Free markets and money-based economies
a. Developed open trading markets and a
system of money
i. Used coins rather than barter or
gift exchange
ii. Coinage also used in Vedic South
Asia and Zhou China
2. Trade and colonization
a. Search for commodities and resources
led to widespread trade
b. Trade led to establishment of new city-
states along western Mediterranean and
the Black Sea
c. Seaborne communication helped to
spread a common culture, especially
among the wealthy
i. Decorated chariots, elaborate
armor, high-class dinnerware,
elaborate houses, public burials
ii. Alphabetic script
 Chapter 5 Worlds Turned Inside Out, 1000–350 bce ◆ 65
iii. Market-based economy
iv. Private property
3. Humans for sale: Slaves and slavery
a. Human beings were bought and sold in
a system of chattel slavery
b. Used for labor, especially in dangerous
or exhausting tasks
c. Slaves became an essential part of the
new city-states
d. Trade network that developed made it
easier to buy and transport slaves
i. Black Sea area became the main
source for slaves for 2,000 years
e. Slave trade a very profitable business for
entire Mediterranean
4. Encounters with frontier communities
a. Peoples to the north and west remained
isolated and change came slowly
b. City-states exerted influence with their
growing trade networks
c. Tribal peoples often raided the city-
states for wealth and commodities
i. Greeks mockingly called them
barbaroi (barbarians) because
they could not speak the Greek
language
ii. As Mediterranean empires grew
powerful, the tribes’ people were
imported as slaves
D. New ideas
1. Without a monarchy, priestly rule, or other
authority, ideas and beliefs were free to rise,
circulate, and clash
2. Naturalistic science and realistic art
a. Rather than seeing deities as controlling
everything, inhabitants of city-states
saw humans with more control of their
environment.
b. Art reflected naturalistic views of
humans and their place in the universe
c. Early art showed humans, objects, and
landscapes as artists saw them to be
d. Later artwork depicts humans in an
idealized way, especially the nude, the
centerpiece of Greek art
i. Public nudity in art and everyday
life showed a sharp break from
older moral codes
ii. Artists signed work
a. Vase painter Exekias
b. Sculptor Praxiteles
c. Poet Sappho
3. New thinking and Greek philosophers
a. New thinkers influenced by ideas from
Southwest Asia
b. Many broke from looking at the role of
gods and instead looked to nature itself
c. Many had radical ideas that sound
somewhat modern and included atomic
theory, digital world, and religious
relativity
d. Public debate of ideas was done by
philosophoi (philosophers)
e. By fi ft h century bce, debates focused on
humans and their place in the world
f. Following a time of intense warfare,
debate turned to trying to describe an
ideal city
i. Th ree generations of Greek
thinkers tackled that question
and others relating to the human
experience and governance
a. Socrates (469–399 bce)
b. Plato (427–347 bce)
c. Aristotle (384–322 bce)
VII. Conclusion
A. Former civilizations in the four great river-
basin areas gave way to second-generation
societies that borrowed or invented new ways of
organizing their societies
B. Warring states in China and Mediterranean
as well as dissident thinkers in South Asia
developed alternative ways of thinking about
governance
C. Isolated from other societies, Olmecs
developed their own complex societies that
would later influence future civilizations such
as the Maya
D. Africa saw the emergence of new second-
generation cultures at Meroe and the Nok
people
E. Around the Mediterranean Sea, new social
forms took shape in city-states that led to far-
reaching ideas about the role of citizens in their
own destiny
LECTURE IDEAS
Developing Codes of Ethics
When studying this period of spiritual crisis, students
should be clear about how each region chose to resolve its
crisis. Some parts of Eurasia, such as northern India, re-
66 ◆ Chapter 5 Worlds Turned Inside Out, 1000–350 bce
shaped Buddhism (Mahayana Buddhism) and sent their
monks to new territories to spread the idea of “the Way.”
China searched for a school of ethics that would address
political systems and life ethics, for example, the One
Hundred Schools of Thought. Eventually Confucianism
became the most important ethic in China. Even when ap-
plying other schools of thought, the Chinese still looked to
Confucianism for many of their basic tenets. A discussion
of how these ethics were applied, how they differed from
religions in China, and how they lived alongside those re-
ligions will help to clarify what is otherwise a confusing
point (see p. 195 of the text). Refer to the textbook and the
Web site section in this instructor’s manual for sources.
Greek Epistemology
In Greece, as in the East, people were seeking answers
to the questions of life. There was a growing interest in
schools of learning and philosophy, some of the best
known philosophers being Socrates, Plato, and Aristo-
tle. From these roots grow some of the Judeo-Christian
heritage that dominates Western epistemology today. A
lecture on the lives of the philosophers, their schools, and
what part of Greece they lived in (i.e., Dorian vs. Ionian)
would broaden students’ understanding of Greek society
and the underpinnings of modern philosophy. Finally, a
discussion of Plato’s Allegory of the Cave and its relevance
in shaping our search for truth, our perceptions regarding
progress, and how it effects our lives even today is a valu-
able educational tool (see pp. 224–27).
Population Growth and the
Desiccation of the Sahara
Global climate changes and the threat of global warming
today have increased students’ interest in environmental
influences on humans and human influence on the envi-
ronment. The desertification of the Sahara has caused one
of the most important migrations of people and animals
in the world. Therefore a lecture on the environmental
history of the growing desiccation of the Sahara Desert is
very appropriate. What was causing the change? Did the
people living in the area try to fi nd ways to stop it? Why
did they not stop it? How did they deal with it? Whom did
it affect? What animals disappeared because of it? What
vegetation? How did animals and people that stayed in
the regions adapt to the new desert? These sources can
help you prepare a lecture on this topic:
The Fezzan Project
www.cru.uea.ac.uk/~e118/Fezzan/fezzan_home.html
Martin Claussen, Claudia Kubatzki, et al. Sahara
Simulation of an Abrupt Change of Saharan
Vegetation in the mid-Holecene
www.awi-bremerhaven.de/Modelling/Paleo/pdf/v_
trans-grl.pdf
Fernand Braudel’s (1984) The Perspective of the World,
vol. III of Civilization and Capitalism: Space, Time,
and Timbuktu
www.naturalhistorymag.com/index.html
(to access, click on Archives, Featured Stories, and the
article Space, Time, and Timbuktu)
Kingdom of Nubia
It is useful to include the history of Nubia and its influ-
ence on the people in the sub-Saharan region and Egypt
as well as these peoples’ influence on the Nubians. In-
clude information about why so litt le was known about
the Nubians until the late twentieth century. For example,
they were long an oral culture, and the Hyksos actively
removed physical evidence of their rule in Egypt when
they took over. Later, the lack of interest and even disbe-
lief of nineteenth-century European explorers led them
to ignore the achievements of black African civilizations.
In the twentieth century, the Aswan Dam project flooded
sites that might have been of archaeological importance.
Today most of what is left of ancient Nubia lies in Sudan,
an area in the midst of civil confl ict and thus not accessible
for excavation. The fi lm and accompanying book Wonders
of the Afr ican World can provide a useful introduction to
this lecture, as can these Web sites on Nubia and Meroe:
www.anth.ucsb.edu/faculty/stsmith/research/nubia_
history.html
hnn.us/comments/15975.html.
Women in Early Civilizations
Compare and contrast the roles and agency of women
in society across different civilizations. For example,
you could look at the Greek colonies and/or mainland
Greece, Egypt and/or Nubia, and the Olmecs. You will
fi nd some surprising differences and similarities regard-
ing family structures and the perceived value of women.
Point out to students that often we only have information
about upper-class women, whereas in many instances
lower-class women retained more agency than did those
in the upper classes. The following sources can help to for-
mulate this lecture (see also Recommended Reading):
www.stoa.org/diotima/anthology/wlgr/
 Chapter 5 Worlds Turned Inside Out, 1000–350 bce ◆ 67
www.library.cornell.edu/colldev/mideast/womneg.
htm.
Olmec Development
The Olmec worldview was very different from those evolv-
ing in Mesopotamia and India. Compare and contrast
these. See for example, the text’s comment that although
they had no “urge to conquer, colonize, or even convert,
the Olmecs nonetheless shaped the social development
of much of Mesoamerica” (p. 212). Help students under-
stand how one civilization developed so differently, while
the rest of the world appeared to be focused on expansion
by might. A look at Olmec symbolism and iconography,
such as the jaguar, the multiple statues, and the stone
heads offers clues for your students to begin considering
this question, which can be used as a focal point for your
lecture.
www.crystalinks.com/olmec.html
CLASS ACTIVITIES
Chinese “Schools of Thought”
Provide your students with a Chinese moral tale. Either
as groups, individually, or in the entire class, have them
discuss how each of the four Chinese major schools of
thought would have responded differently to the tale.
The best way to prepare them for this is to provide them
with a matrix that lays out some of the major qualities of
each of the four philosophies so that they can then for-
mulate a response. Afterward, discuss their conclusions,
why they came to those conclusions, and what they might
have done differently. Why would different ethical codes
have evolved in China? What would have been necessary
for Confucianism or Legalism or some other school of
thought to become part of the fabric of society? Why is
one ultimately accepted and another not?
Below is an example of an ancient Chinese tale (from
Selected Chinese Myths and Fantasies, www.chinavista.
com/experience/story/story3.html#) that could be used.
You could also use a modern news story or event as well.
the cowher d and the gir l weaver
On the east bank of the Heavenly River [the Milky Way]
lived a girl weaver, daughter of the Emperor of Heaven.
She worked hard year in and year out, weaving colorful
clothes for gods and goddesses.
Since she lived all alone, the emperor took pity on her
and allowed her to marry the cowherd on the west bank
of the river. However, she stopped weaving after she was
married. Greatly outraged, the emperor forced the girl
back across the river and allowed her to join her husband
only once a year.
—from Xiao Shuo (folk tale)
On the seventh day of each autumn, magpies would sud-
denly become bald-headed for no obvious reasons at all.
According to legend, that day the cowherd and the weaver
met on the east bank of the river, and magpies were made
to form a bridge for them. And for this reason the down
on their heads was worn out.
—from Er ya yi (Book of Plants and Animals)
Mahayana Buddhism
Encourage a class discussion on the new, more inclusive
Mahayana philosophy, which encompassed a universal
principle of cause and effect (see pp. 256–59). You may
wish to create a worksheet that clearly defi nes the changes
from Theravada Buddhism to Mahayana Buddhism for
students. Ask students to articulate clearly the societal in-
fluences that necessitated these changes. Now have them
look at the fact sheets about their generation, the Gen Y
generation. What kind of philosophies might evolve or
change to fit their world? See these sites for more informa-
tion on Generation Y:
www.deloitte.com/dtt/cda/doc/content/us_
consulting _millennialfactsheet_080606.pdf
www.gen-y.org/
You will notice on the fact sheet that one of the qualities
Gen Y’ers value is interactive, real-time learning. Th is ac-
tivity and others in this instructor’s manual will reinforce
their learning process.
Chinese Crafts
Two Chinese trade items were created (celadon) or re-
fi ned (lacquerware) during this period. Both continue
to be popular across the world, yet most people have no
idea as to their history, what is involved in how they are
made, or, in the instance of lacquerware, even what it is
made of. Th is chapter provides a perfect opportunity to
impress students with the level of technical advancement
and creativity 2,000 years ago in China and also teach
them about the technical aspects of two relatively com-
mon products. Because they are fairly inexpensive today,
bring to class as many lacquerware and celadon products
as you can. Particularly with lacquer you can fi nd multiple
styles and kinds, including boxes, vases, chopsticks, bar-
rettes, bracelets, and more. With celadon, the options will
68 ◆ Chapter 5 Worlds Turned Inside Out, 1000–350 bce
be more standard, you may have plates, bowls, vases, nap-
kin rings, statuary or other forms of dishware. I create two
sheets with images that describe how lacquerware and
celadon are made and set up work stations with the actual
items and the sheets. I then provide my students with a
worksheet with questions regarding the products that they
need to answer. I encourage them to fi nd the answers to-
gether. You can develop any number of open-ended ques-
tions. For lacquerware, for example, I ask the following:
During the Neolithic Period, the Chinese learned to fi re pots,
jars, and urns very early, just as did other civilizations. How-
ever, at much the same time they also learned how to make these
items in other, more sophisticated media much earlier then any
other civilization. The Chinese began to utilize vessels made
from materials other than clay, wood, or stone. They invented
lacquerware, in a long and complex process of creating and dec-
orating vessels. What do you fi nd interesting about this process?
Why do you think that they were driven to create a technology
that was both an art form and functional? Why would they have
continued using this process, since it did take so long?
You can fi nd detailed information on the lacquerware
process at:
www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/elac/hd_elac.htm
For celadon see:
www.chinesefolkculture.com/info_view.asp?id=3527
www.chinesecultureonline.org/arts.jsp?catName=
pottery _ porcelain&centerName=porcelain
RECOMMENDED FILMS
■ The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization (1997, 165 min.).
Created by PBS and narrated by Liam Neeson, this excep-
tional documentary covers all aspects of ancient Greek
society and has an interactive Web site:
www.pbs.org/empires/thegreeks/
You can easily break the video into segments according to
your area of focus. For example, there is a strong section
on philosophy in which Plato and Socrates (using com-
puter generation) teach the viewer about the foundations
of Western philosophy. In addition, the documentary
includes sections on Greek architecture, art and theater,
the Peloponnesian Wars, and even the Batt le of Mara-
thon. There is also a segment on democracy, Athens, and
Pericles.
■ Hero (2003, 99 min., subtitled). Set just after Qin Shi-
huangdi’s unification of the seven kingdoms under the
kingdom of Qin (230–221 bce), this martial-arts, histor-
ical-fiction fi lm can be used to show a number of themes.
The ruthlessness of the emperor of Qin is fi rst and fore-
most. The scenery allows you to draw your students into
early China’s urban areas, village sett ings, and raw fron-
tier. The paranoia that China’s fi rst emperor manifests in
the fi lm appears to be accurate. Th is could allow you to
discuss some of the more radical changes he enacted, per-
haps in an attempt to protect what he had achieved: the
unification of Chinese culture; the standardization of the
written language, currency, weights, and measures; be-
ginning the Great Wall of China; and public book burn-
ings and mass executions. Th is fi lm plays out Confucian
morality with themes of loyalty over love, trust, betrayal,
and revenge.
■ The Immortal Emperor: Shihuangdi (1996, 50 min.). A
great deal of this documentary focuses on the amazing
structure that is the tomb of Shihuangdi and the eight
thousand-plus terra cotta statues placed there to protect
and care for him in the afterlife. The fi lm provides an en-
trée into a discussion of the structure of Chinese society
in the time of the Qin.
■ India: The Empire of the Spirit (55 min.). See description
in chapter 2 Films. In a brief section in this fi lm, Wood
discusses the global “crisis of spirit” that seems to give rise
to men and movements such as Ashoka and Mahayana
Buddhism, Jesus Christ, Plato, and Aristotle. It provides
a good opening to this chapter and theme.
■ Mesoamerica: The Rise and Fall of the City-States (2001,
27 min.). This documentary was filmed on location.
Instead of focusing on one culture, it briefly explores the
Mayan, Toltec, and Aztec cultures. With its expert com-
mentary and 3-D computer imagery, it can be a good in-
troduction to this area of history.
■ Wonders of the African World: Black Kingdoms of the Nile
and the Swahili Coast (120 min. in two 60-minute seg-
ments). See the description in Recommended Films chap-
ter 2 (p. 22). For this chapter, consider Black Kingdoms
of the Nile. The section on Nubia is about twenty minutes
long. It includes an accompanying book and a useful Web
site: www.pbs.org/wonders/index.html.
RECOMMENDED READING
Jeanne Achterberg, 1990. Woman as Healer.
Fernand Braudel, 1984. The Perspective of the World.
Fernand Braudel, 2002. Memory and the Mediterranean.
Karen Olsen Bruhns and Karen E. Stothert, 1999.
Women in Ancient America.
J. D. Fage, 2001. A History of Afr ica.
Elaine Fantham, Helene Peet Foley, Natalie Boymel
Kampen, Sarah B. Pomeroy, and H. Alan Shapiro,
1994. Women in the Classical World.
 Chapter 5 Worlds Turned Inside Out, 1000–350 bce ◆ 69
Sybille Haynes, 2000. Etruscan Civilization: A Cultural
History.
Simon James, 1999. The Atlantic Celts: Ancient People or
Modern Invention?
Mark Edward Lewis, 2007. The Early Chinese Empires:
Qin and Han (History of Imperial China).
Furst McKeever and Jill Leslie, 1995. The Natural History
of the Soul in Ancient Mexico.
Carol Meyers, Toni Craven, and Ross S. Kraemer, eds.,
2000. Women in Scripture.
Sarah B. Pomeroy. Goddesses, Whores, Wives, and Slaves:
Women in Classical Antiquity.
Ralph D. Sawyer, 1993. The Seven Military Classics of
Ancient China: Including The Art of War.
Curtis F. Schaafsma and Carroll L. Riley, eds., 1999. The
Casas Grandes World.
Gene S. Stuart and George E. Stuart, 1993. Lost
Kingdoms of the Maya.
Susan Whitfield, 2001. Life Along the Silk Road.
WEB SITES
Africa South of the Sahara
Links to information across Africa
htt p://www-sul.stanford.edu/depts/ssrg/africa/
history/hisking.html
Classical Chinese Philosophy
Good overview of the major schools of thought with
resources and historical context
www.geocities.com/tokyo/springs/6339/
philosophy.html
Edgar’s MesoAmerican Art Page
Excellent site with a wide range of information and time
periods
members.aol.com/emdelcamp/edgar2.htm
The Greeks: Crucible of Civilization
An interactive web site on Greek civilization that
supports the aforementioned documentary
www.pbs.org/empires/thegreeks/
Internet Women’s History Sourcebook: Greece
Provides primary documents relevant to ancient women’s
lives, divided according to region and period
www.fordham.edu/halsall/women/womensbook.
html
The Mysterious Etruscans
Detailed site
www.mysteriousetruscans.com/
New Tomb at Teotihuacan
Excellent images and architectural renderings of tomb
www.archaeology.org/online/features/mexico/
Nubia
Excellent site with multiple images
www.anth.ucsb.edu/faculty/stsmith/research/
nubia_history.html
Olmec Civilization
Brief historical introduction with images
www.crystalinks.com/olmec.html
The Sport of Life and Death and the MesoAmerican Ball
Game
Site is for younger students but is fi lled with valuable
information and easy to use
www.ballgame.org/main.asp?section=5
Women’s Life in Greece and Rome
Detailed Web site
www.stoa.org/diotima/anthology/wlgr/
CH A PTER 6
Shrinking the Afro-Eurasian World,
350 bce–250 ce
▶ Political Expansion and Cultural Diff usion
▶ The Emergence of a Cosmopolitan World
Conquests of Alexander the Great
Alexander’s Successors and the Territorial
Kingdoms
Hellenistic Culture
Common Language
Cosmopolitan Cities
Philosophy and Religion
Hellenism and the Elites
Jewish Resistance to Hellenism
Roman Hellenism and the Beginnings of the Roman
Empire
Cartharge
Economic Changes and Mediterranean Unity:
Plantation Slavery and Money-Based
Economies
▶ Converging Influences in Central and South Asia
Influences from the Mauryan Empire (321–184
bce)
LECTURE OUTLINE
Th is chapter begins with Alexander the Great and his
conquests. Alexander’s military forces carried with them
Greek institutions and culture. Greek language was the
core of the Hellenistic culture. But Greek culture also
met indigenous peoples who retained their own cultures.
Cross-cultural exchange took place throughout the world,
especially in South Asia. During this time Buddhism was
transformed and transported as people connected West
to East through a series of trade routes, which became
known as the Silk Road. In addition to overland trade,
sailors took to the seas to expand commerce. Many of the
world’s regions, from China to Africa, became more inter-
nally integrated.
70
The Seleucid Empire and Greek Influences
The Kingdom of Bactria and the Yavanna Kings
Nomadic Influences of Parthians, Sakas, and
Kushans
▶ The Transformation of Buddhism
India as a Spiritual Crossroads
The New Buddhism: The Mahayana School
Cultural Integration
▶ The Formation of the Silk Road
Silk Road Follows Earlier Trade Routes Established
Between China and Central Asia
Nomads, Frontier, and Trade Routes
Early Overland Trade and Caravan Cities
The Western End of the Silk Road: Palmyra
Reaching China Along the Silk Road
The Spread of Buddhism Along the Trade Routes
Taking to the Seas: Commerce on the Red Sea and
Indian Ocean
I. Political Expansion and Cultural Diff usion
A. Alexander the Great’s armies linked the
Hellenistic world to many other regions.
1. Did not eradicate local culture but linked it
or changed it
2. Hellenism brought worlds together
3. Did not lead to a single common culture
B. Alexander’s conquests laid the foundation for
state systems
1. Those systems protected and stabilized
trade
2. States encouraged use of money and
common language
3. Larger trade routes, such as the Silk Road,
established
 Chapter 6 Shrinking the Afro-Eurasian World, 350 bce–250 ce ◆ 71
C. Worlds had been linked before Alexander,
especially through migration, trade, and
technological diff usion
1. Alexander followed preexisting paths
2. His conquests expanded and accelerated
the links between world regions
3. Buddhist influence also spread with the
new contacts
D. Interconnections of trade and cultural diff usion
enhanced regional integration
1. Created new contacts and restimulated old
ones
2. Long-distance caravans and sea voyages
II. The Emergence of a Cosmopolitan World
A. Conquests of Alexander the Great
1. Alexander from Macedonia, a frontier state
of Greece
2. Between 334 and 323 bce, commanded a
mobile and technologically advanced army
3. Macedonia used gold resources and money
from slave trade to build a powerful army
a. Heavily armored infantry
b. Tight phalanxes and large-scale shock
cavalry
4. Alexander’s father fi rst conquered
surrounding areas
5. Alexander took over and fought off the
Persian Empire’s invasion in 334 bce
6. Used speed and surprise to conquer new
lands
7. Campaigns smashed barriers that had
separated East and West
a. Alexander married Roxana, a woman
from Bactria
b. He established a capital in the East at
Balkh
c. The conquests brought systems of
monetary exchange and cultural ideas
associated with Greek city-states
d. Money taken from Persia redistributed
throughout Mediterranean city-states
B. Alexander’s successors and the territorial
kingdoms
1. Alexander died in Babylon in 323 bce at
age 32
2. His conquered lands fragmented, and his
generals took over regions
a. Modeled themselves on regional rulers
rather than Greek citizens
b. Brought the idea of absolute rulership to
the region
c. Some women from powerful ruling
families had a chance to rule, unlike in
the Greek city-states
i. Berenice of Egypt (320–280 bce)
ii. Cleopatra (30s bce)
d. Large territorial states emerged
i. Syria
ii. Macedonia
iii. Egypt
e. Middle-size kingdoms emerged
i. Pergamum in modern northwest
Turkey
f. In other places, smaller states banded
together to form confederations
3. Political states became bigger and more
standardized
a. Expanded by integrating neighboring
peoples as fellow subjects
b. Warfare continued on a larger and more
complex scale
c. Parity between large states meant that
the batt les gained litt le for anyone
d. Diplomacy and treaties replaced
fighting
C. Hellenistic culture
1. Common culture included language,
artistic style, and politics
a. Secular disciplines
b. Philosophical and political thinking
c. Popular entertainment
d. Public games
e. Art for art’s sake
2. Th roughout the conquered areas, evidence
of Greek culture can be found
3. Some places resisted, whereas others
embraced the spread of Hellenistic culture
a. Judea, mainly Jewish area, considered
Greek ways lethal to their culture
b. Rome saw the Greek culture as a way to
raise its status
c. Carthaginians helped spread the Greek
ways
D. Common language
1. Common (koine) Greek became the
international language of the day
2. Benefited communication and exchange
throughout the Afro-European world
E. Cosmopolitan cities
1. Alexandria in Egypt exemplified the new
city
a. Multiethnic due to in-migration
b. New urban culture emerged
72 ◆ Chapter 6 Shrinking the Afro-Eurasian World, 350 bce–250 ce
c. Art needed to appeal to a broad
audience
i. Plays began to have common plots
and stock characters
d. Residents of cities thought of
themselves as cosmopolitans (citizens
of the universe rather than just of one
polis)
e. Rulers took on a personality that set
them apart from regular citizens
f. A cult of the self became part of the
Hellenistic world
F. Philosophy and religion
1. Individuals expressed their concern with
self in many ways
2. Different philosophers promoted new
ideas
a. Some emphasized nature, but others
rejected old ways, such as traditional
social status
i. Stoicism
3. Religion was also transformed through
colonialization
a. The cult of Isis was revived from the
pharoanic days
b. New religious beliefs and rituals were
practiced
G. Hellenism and the elites
1. Elites began to embrace Hellenism for
status reasons
2. Romans borrowed from the Greeks,
especially historical writing
H. Jewish resistance to Hellenism
1. Jews had a long history of resistance to
foreign rule
2. Although some Jews, especially elites,
embraced Greek culture, others resisted
3. Rebellion occurred when Syrian overlords
tried to forbid Jewish practices
I. Roman Hellenism and the beginnings of the
Roman Empire
1. City-state along Tiber River unites Italy
2. Rome became large territorial state
3. Adoption of Greek culture seen as
“civilized”
4. Some elites resisted acceptance of Greek
ways
a. Cato the Elder kept old ways while
embracing new ones
J. Carthage
1. Carthage adopted Hellenism on economic
grounds
2. Trade expanded to southern France and
West Africa
3. Carthaginians also known by Romans as
Punic
4. Temples and public buildings reveal a
hybrid nature of Hellenistic with Punic
culture
K. Economic changes and Mediterranean unity:
Plantation slavery and money-based economies
1. Unprecedented wealth in the
Mediterranean world led to the
establishment of large plantations worked
by slaves
a. Slaves were peoples either kidnapped or
conquered in warfare
b. Plantations devoted to producing
surplus crops
c. Free peasants were displaced to the
already crowded cities
d. Slave uprisings between 135 and 70 bce
i. Eunus, a religious seer
ii. Spartacus
2. Use of money for trade became widespread
from Gaul to North Africa
a. Many different places began to coin
their own money
3. Some areas on the fringes of the
Mediterranean world sold their own
people into slavery for money to purchase
desirable commodities
III. Converging Influences in Central and South Asia
A. Influences from the Mauryan Empire (321–184
bce)
1. Alexander’s occupation of the Indus Valley
led to the rise of the Mauryan Empire
2. Chandragupta Maurya led the Magadha
kingdom to control much of the northern
part of the peninsula
3. Mauryan Empire became fi rst large-scale
empire in South Asia and a model for later
empires
a. Chandragupta ruled 321–297 bce
b. Used elephants in batt le
4. Seleucid kingdom and Mauryan Empire
reached a diplomatic agreement through
trade and marriage
5. Mauryan Empire reached its height during
reign of Ashoka (Chandragupta’s grandson)
a. Dynasty’s last campaign against Kalinga
b. Terrible loss of life (100,000 soldiers
killed; 150,000 people displaced)
 Chapter 6 Shrinking the Afro-Eurasian World, 350 bce–250 ce ◆ 73
c. Ashoka issued an edict renouncing his
brutal ways
6. Ashoka’s Buddhism influenced his rule
a. Built stupas (Buddhist dome
monuments)
b. Ruled according to the dharma
c. Issued edicts and decrees in various
languages including Greek
d. Art created during his rule showed the
blending of Greek, Persian, and Indian
cultures
B. The Seleucid Empire and Greek influences
1. A large number of Alexander’s eastern
outposts became major Greek cities.
2. Seleucus Nikator (312–281 bce) took over
the eastern conquests of Alexander and
expanded them, including Mesopotamia,
Syria, and Persia
3. Greek soldiers sett led in the conquered
lands
a. Took local wives
b. Brought Greek ways to the local
populations
c. Greek language and writing
d. Descendants grew up bilingual
C. The kingdom of Bactria and the Yavanna
kings
1. Hellenistic influences increased in later
regimes
2. Bactrian kingdom was a bridge between
South Asia and the Greek world of the
Mediterranean
a. Sent elephants to the Greek armies in
the west
b. Greek art and coins showed fascination
with elephants
3. Greek king Demetrius invaded India 200
bce
a. His generals extended the empire
b. Known as the Yavana kings
4. Material culture of the ancient city of
Samarkand shows Greek influences
a. Administrative center
b. Greek architecture and art
c. Elite read poetry and philosophy
d. Worshiped Greek deities, Zoroastrian
gods, and gods of Mesopotamia
5. Asian cities combined Asian culture with
Greek culture
a. Temples showed cultural assimilation
with foreign gods, wearing Greek garb
b. Greeks brought olives and vineyards
c. Coins had Greek inscriptions
D. Nomadic influences of Parthians, Sakas, and
Kushans
1. Invasions into central Asia weakened
Hellenic influence
a. Parthians invaded Iran in 130 bce
i. Became enemies of the Romans for
400 years
ii. Greek commentators discuss the
Parthians
iii. Eastern frontier of Rome
continued to trade even during war
times
b. Nomadic people from Mongolia and
Central Asia migrated to India
i. Took over for the disintegrating
empires of Alexander and Ashoka
ii. Abandoned equestrian, nomadic
culture
iii. Blended Greek and Buddhist
religions
c. The Xiongnu, a tribal confederacy,
emerged in east Asian steppe lands
i. Pushed the Saka tribes into
southwest India
ii. Parthians also entered Indus Valley
iii. Lacked a writing system but
imitated rulers who had drawn on
Greek culture
d. The Yuezhi-Kushans most dynamic
group to migrate
i. Unified all the tribes in the
region
ii. Established the Kushan dynasty
iii. Played critical role in the formation
of the Silk Road
iv. Illiterate but adopted Greek as
their official language
e. The Kushan rulers kept alive the
influences of Hellenism in Afghanistan
and northwestern India
i. Coins, weights, and measures
at markets all based on Greek
standards
f. Nomadic group continued to set
themselves apart from locals through
their dress and their equestrian skills
i. Horses became the most
prestigious status symbol of the
ruling elite
74 ◆ Chapter 6 Shrinking the Afro-Eurasian World, 350 bce–250 ce
ii. Began to consume exotic goods
from the East
g. Successful rule of the Kushans
stabilized the trade routes through
Central Asia
IV. The Transformation of Buddhism
A. India as a spiritual crossroads
1. India became a melting pot of ideas and
institutions
2. Hellenism, nomadism, and Arab seafaring
culture transformed India’s Buddhism
3. Kushan rulers established a model of
supporting and embracing local religions
a. Gave money to build shrines and to the
monasteries
b. Buddhism changed as India’s growing
prosperity led to wealth in the monastic
complexes
i. Buddhist monasteries open to the
public as places of worship
B. The new Buddhism: The Mahayana school
1. New influences led to a new Buddhist
school of theology, Mahayana
2. Ended debate over Buddha’s status
3. Mahayana school said that Buddha was a
deity
4. Religious tenants of Mahayana Buddhism
more appealing to the average person
a. Bodhisatt vas prepared the way and
helped others reach “Buddha-lands”
b. Afterlife much more appealing
5. Mahayana (Great Vehicle) view was that
it could help all individuals from a life of
suffering into a happy existence
a. Avolokiteshvara (a bodhisatt va) said he
would stay and help guide those who
traveled in caravans or navigated ships
6. New ideas of Buddhism appeared in
literature
a. Asvaghosa wrote a biography of Buddha
with new fictive information, which
became widely read
C. Cultural integration
1. First-century bce texts showed colorful
images of Buddha that were later used in
creating art depicting the Buddha
2. Stupas and shrines, as well as sculpture,
showed the Buddha
3. The various depictions of Buddha reflected
the local culture
a. Gandharan Buddhist art shows strong
Greek and Roman artistic influences
4. Art shared common elements of giving the
Buddha and bodhisatt vas realistic human
form
5. Buddhist art depicted a society of diverse
populations
6. Long-distance and regional trade
contributed to the transformation of
Buddhism
a. Traders brought incense and jewels that
went to the bodhisatt vas and stupas
b. Monastic organizations treated traders
well
V. The Formation of the Silk Road
A. Silk Road follows earlier trade routes
established between China and Central Asia
1. New route expanded trade from Central
Asia to Mediterranean
2. Traders traveled specific segments of the
route
3. Waterways also became a way for long-
distance trade
a. Better maritime technology allowed
sailors to move away from coasts and
trade across the Indian Ocean
B. Expansion of commerce and contacts between
the Mediterranean and South Asia encouraged
even more trade
1. Traders on camels or in ships brought
commodities to market
2. Trade strengthened ongoing political,
intellectual, and spiritual shift
C. Long-distance exchanges altered the political
geography of Afro-Eurasia
1. Long-standing empires like Egypt gave way
to borderland regions, which formed their
own empires through the commerce of
trade
2. “Middle East” became the commercial
middle ground between east and west
3. East Asia became connected to the west via
central and South Asia
a. Silk, from the Greek and Roman name
for the people of northwest China
D. Nomads, frontiers, and trade routes
1. Long-distance trade routes developed from
the ways of horse-riding nomads
2. Their constant movement exposed
them to a greater variety of microbes and
 Chapter 6 Shrinking the Afro-Eurasian World, 350 bce–250 ce ◆ 75
made them more immune than sedentary
people
3. Steppe nomads were skillful archers on
horseback
4. Served as cultural mediators to bring
disparate Afro-Eurasian world together
5. Xiongnu nomads became powerful in
China with their knowledge of metal
technology and weapons
E. Early overland trade and caravan cities
1. Trade routes moved south and west
2. Caravan cities developed
a. Formed in strategic locations
b. Centers of Hellenistic culture
c. Many emerged at the northern end of a
route that led through Arabia
i. Yemen—green at the end of the
desert
a. Major gathering spot for spice
traders
ii. Sabaeans of Arabia became very
wealthy from spice trade, especially
frankincense and myrrh
iii. Nabataeans were traders
a. Made money in water and food
trade to travelers
d. Nabataeans built a rock city called Petra
as a trading post
i. Many Greek influences including
an amphitheater carved out of the
rock
ii. Flourished until Romans took over
F. The western end of the Silk Road: Palmyra
1. With Petra’s decline, Palmyra became the
most important caravan city at the western
end of the Silk Road
2. Roman citizens relied on Palmyra traders
to get luxury goods
3. Local tribal chiefs had a good deal of local
autonomy
a. Semitic dialect for daily life, Greek for
business and administration
b. Textiles important to the trade,
especially silks and cashmere wool
4. Money from trade went to build an
impressive marble city in the desert
a. Afterlife apparently very important to
Palmyrans
i. Cemetery as big as the residential
area
b. Hosted self-contained trading
communities—fonduqs
G. Reaching China along the Silk Road
1. Silk in all its forms helped China grow rich
and gain an upper hand in diplomacy
2. Trade in silk increased as the demand for
the material increased
3. Around 300 bce, China increasingly
produced commercial crops
a. Merchants formed influential family
lineages and guilds
4. Power shifted from agrarian elites into
urban fi nanciers and traders
a. Merchants expanded silk trade across
Silk Road and South China Sea
b. Tollgates and customhouses appeared,
but government also sought to facilitate
trade and used military ships to help
merchants
5. Silk was only one of many commodities
that went west
6. No major ports developed in China that
compared with places such as Palmyra
7. Chinese people and the Chinese state
remained litt le affected by Hellenism and
Mahayana Buddhism
a. Looked inward and laid foundations for
Han Empire
H. The spread of Buddhism along the trade
routes
1. Monks spread religion along the same
trade routes that goods traveled
a. Buddhism the most expansionist
religion of the time
b. Monks from Kushan Empire spread
Buddhism all the way to China
i. Buddhist texts translated into
Chinese
c. Acceptance of Buddhism was slow and
took several centuries
2. Buddhism did less well spreading to the
West
a. Zoroastrian followers impeded the
spread of Buddhism
I. Taking to the seas: Commerce on the Red Sea
and Indian Ocean
1. Land routes were tried and true, but had
risks of robbers and limits in what could be
carried
2. Arabs took risks and began to trade more
by sea routes
a. Arab seafarers used the Indian Ocean
to forge links between East Africa,
Mediterranean, India, and Asia
76 ◆ Chapter 6 Shrinking the Afro-Eurasian World, 350 bce–250 ce
b. Alexandria became a transit point for
trade between East and West
c. Used new navigational techniques
i. Celestial bearings
ii. Large ships (dhows)
iii. Understood seasonal winds
d. Maritime knowledge reduced costs and
multiplied the ports of call
3. Some historians argue that there were two
silk roads: one by land and one by sea
VI. Conclusion
A. Alexander’s campaigns had a powerful effect
on Afro-Eurasia, transforming its culture,
governments, and economies
B. The Greek language and other aspects of Greek
culture had long-lasting effects throughout
South and Central Asia
C. Indigenous people embraced some aspects of
the Greek culture and merged them with their
own, especially in the case of religion
D. Influenced by nomads, invaders, and traders,
India became a melting pot of ideas and
cultures
E. Buddhism was transformed into a new, more
accepted version
F. Commercial trade routes expanded with the
trade of silks and spices on land and sea
LECTURE IDEAS
Comparing Worldviews
Greek and Roman worldviews appear very similar on
the surface, and in some regards they are. However, if
you begin to unpack the details of their lives, especially
through a comparison of their major forms of public en-
tertainment, then you begin to see some subtle, but sig-
nificant differences. A lecture on worldviews analyzed
through the Olympic Games and the gladiator games pro-
vides a great deal of information about all aspects of these
two societies, from population structures to what was
valued in each society to women’s agency. You can help
students to think about each society’s views about compe-
tition, honor, class structure, pluralism, general optimism
for the future, and empowerment. Gather clues to all of
these themes and others from information and analysis of
the games. A discussion of both forms of entertainment is
something students really enjoy. You can fi nd more infor-
mation on Roman games at
www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/
gladiators_01.shtml
depthome.brooklyn.cuny.edu/classics/gladiatr/index.
htm
For Greece see:
www.perseus.tufts.edu/Olympics/
www.museum.upenn.edu/new/olympics/
olympicorigins.shtml
Alexander the Great
Although the text goes into detail regarding the lands
that Alexander the Great conquered, there is litt le actual
discussion about who Alexander was, what kind of leader
he was, how he was trained to take over from his father,
Phillip II, and how he inspired his soldiers to create such a
massive empire in this brief span of time. Alexander made
many brilliant military and political decisions; he was
driven and obsessive, traits that may have contributed to
his early demise. Help students understand how one man
could lead Greece into the forefront of the Western world,
creating influences that still shape our world today. See
the Recommended Films and Reading as well as the fol-
lowing Web sites for further details:
www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/8740/Alexander.
htm
Th is has an excellent map of his military path
www.1stmuse.com/frames/history.boisestate.edu/
WESTCIV/alexander/
Ashoka and the Growth of Buddhism
Base a lecture on Ashoka and his unique perspective on
pluralism, Buddhism, and peace and tolerance. You could
lead into the lecture by discussing the formation of the
Mauryan Empire by Chandragupta Maurya, leading up
to the crowning of his grandson Ashoka. Th is theme is
important to students today. Surveys show an increased
interest in social activism. Th is type of lecture provides
early examples of just such an interest. When Ashoka
became ruler, he was rather ruthless because of inter-
nal unrest, instituting swift capital punishment for even
minor infractions. Show how a seminal event in Ashoka’s
life appeared to have altered his perspective—the brutal
decimation of the Kalinga people. Th is war was a turn-
ing point, and the cultural and spiritual flowering that
followed is att ributed to his support. In particular, due to
Ashoka’s political and personal support of Buddhism, it
flourished and grew enough in his lifetime to ensure its
place as one of the world’s universal religions. For more
lecture sources see:
 Chapter 6 Shrinking the Afro-Eurasian World, 350 bce–250 ce ◆ 77
www.cs.colostate.edu/~malaiya/ashoka.html
These are his edicts translated; includes links
www.wsu.edu/~dee/ANCINDIA/MAURYA.HTM
You could also consider a lecture contrasting Ashoka
and Alexander as leaders. Both were very interested in phi-
losophy and culture, yet one renounced warfare. Would
Alexander have done the same if he had lived longer?
The Silk Road
One of the single most important discoveries during this
time that influenced the shrinking of the Afro-Eurasian
world was the discovery of the Ganzu Corridor by Zhang
Qian and thus the opening up of the overland Silk Road
route. A lecture could detail the discovery of the Ganzu
Corridor, the geography that made it so unique, and the
travails involved in crossing this immense area of land.
Th is lecture needs to be a combination of historical geog-
raphy, geology, environmental history, and so on. Power-
Point is useful because it allows you to help students begin
to understand the variety of cultures and landscapes that
were crossed. They need to understand that very few peo-
ple covered the entire thirty-five-hundred-mile path—or
even knew that there was not only one path. Only trade
goods passed from merchant to merchant. Students have
probably never thought about the fact that merchants had
to plan for purchasing water or consider the time of year
that they left so that they would make it across the moun-
tains before the snowstorms. The caravanserai alone pro-
vide myriad details on which to create a lecture. For more
details see the Recommended Reading and Web sites.
Also, see the Class Activities for information on how to
create a class activity that can be used in conjunction with
the lecture.
The Mogao Temples at Dunhuang
Dunhuang, the starting or fi nishing point of the Silk Road
as travelers entered or left the treacherous Taklimakan
Desert, became an important point of pilgrimage as the
travelers prayed for thanksgiving or deliverance on their
journey. The monetary gifts to the Buddhist monks who
tended the sandstone temples in the Mogao Temples at
the cliffs at Dunhuang led to the creation of one of the ar-
tistic wonders of the world. The resulting art—a blend of
Hellenistic, Indian, and Chinese styles—beautifully rep-
resents the connection of East and West. There is much to
discuss with students regarding these temples: the rigors
of the trip, the artwork itself, the growth of Buddhism, the
function of bodhisatt vas, Mahayana Buddhism, the value
of religious people for all the travelers whether Buddhist
or not, the role of nineteenth-century European explor-
ers, and the new discoveries of ancient texts there. More
information regarding Dunhuang is fi nally becoming
available. See:
depts.washington.edu/reecas/outreach/silklink.htm
The image database Artstor contains over one thousand
museum-quality photographs available for use. Check
with your library to see if your school has a user’s license:
www.artstor.org/index.shtml
CLASS ACTIVITIES
Women and Silkmaking
A classroom activity or series of activities around the
history of silk is always unique and interesting. It can be
accompanied by a lecture covering the discovery of silk-
making, how the secret of silk stayed in China proper
for so long, and fi nally how the secret of silkmaking
was thought to have been passed to those outside of the
country. Another aspect of silk is to discuss who was al-
lowed to wear it. For many years only royalty could wear
it and only in certain colors. How and why this changed
helps students understand the evolution of societies. Dis-
cussion of the industrial uses of silk, the role of women,
silk as currency, and other aspects of silkmaking all can
form an interesting class activity and lecture. Originally
Lady Hsi-Ling-Shih was revered as the goddess of silk
(see chapter 4). Her husband, the Yellow Emperor, was a
Sage King and in Chinese mythology was thought to have
ruled around 3000 bce. Lady Hsi-Ling-Shih brought the
knowledge of silkworm rearing and the invention of the
loom to her people so that they would have clothes. Ever
since then, the tending of the silkworms and the unravel-
ing of the cocoons have been jobs for women. Even though
this story was always thought to be a myth, in 1927, half a
silkworm cocoon unearthed from the bank of the Yellow
River was dated between 2600 and 2300 bce. A group of
ribbons, threads, and woven fragments found with it were
dated at about 3000 bce. More recently an ivory cup with
carvings of silkworms and spinning tools, thread, and
fabric were found at an archaeological site on the lower
Yangzi River. They are thought to be between 6,000 and
7,000 years old. Lady Hsi-Ling-Shih might very well have
existed.
You can devise a number of activities surrounding
silk. For example, have students read the myth of Lady
Hsi-Ling-Shih and ask them to unpack details as if they
were historians. The handout found in chapter 4 contains
78 ◆ Chapter 6 Shrinking the Afro-Eurasian World, 350 bce–250 ce
the legend. Are there clues that might make them look
further? Provide various kinds of silk fabric. It would be
useful if you could label the kinds of silk, such as brocade,
raw silk, shantung. Ask students to examine the fabric
and read the handout on the silk-making process (chapter
4 handout). What kind of silk would require more pro-
cessing and handling? Which kind would require less?
Why? You can also consider providing a variety of differ-
ent products made from silk if they are available to you
and create an activity around this. Many students have
no idea how many industrial products are made from silk
such as fishing nets or surgical thread. Provide them with
information about gender roles in silk making as well as
the economic contribution that silk made to the over-
all economy per particular year. Have them break down
the jobs by gender for the average farmers, the people
who generally harvested the silk. What kind of status do
students believe women had in Chinese society after re-
viewing these details? These sites will help to prepare any
additional worksheets:
History of Silk
www.silk-road.com/artl/silkhistory.shtml
History of Silk
www.historyforkids.org/learn/clothing/silk.htm
(Th is site has a YouTube video that shows women un-
raveling a silk cocoon.)
Silk
depts.washington.edu/reecas/outreach/silklink.htm
Wikipedia offers a complete section on silk making with
some unusual historical and entomological photographs.
Numismatic History
Coins tell a story about the time, place, and people who
trade them. Help your students learn how to evaluate ma-
terial culture through societies’ coins. Where the coins
were found is useful information regarding trading part-
ners. Students can evaluate a group’s level of technology,
what metals were considered valuable, dates, and other
information. For example, on most Roman coins you can
tell what legion the coins were made for. Often there is a
reference to a historical event, such as Caesar’s assassina-
tion by Brutus. Use the photos in the text with links to
specific numismatic details:
◆ Th ird century Roman coins (p. 245):
www.romancoins.info/
◆ Greek coin with images of Menander and Athena
(image on p. 254, discussed on p. 253):
www.columbia.edu/itc/mealac/pritchett/
00routesdata/bce_199_100/menandercoins/
menandercoins.html
◆ Kushan coin by Wima Kadphises. (There is no image
of this coin in the text; context is found on p. 255.) The
Web site provides an image:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vima_Kadphises
◆ Qin and post–Qin dynasty spade-shaped coins (image
found on p. 268). A more detailed discussion is at:
tjbuggey.ancients.info/Chinese.html
Travel Along the Silk Road
Your students can’t travel on the Silk Road, so there is
no way for them to really understand the complexities of
trading and bartering, the difficulties of avoiding thieves,
choosing the best transportation, or the best departure
time. However, you can create a caravanserai and with a
litt le advanced planning give your students an idea of the
pitfalls that could hinder a would-be ancient entrepreneur.
See www.consideratcaravanserai.net.
The initial planning can be time consuming; I created
characters for my students and had them research the
characters in advance so that they would be prepared to
respond appropriately. However, once you have created
the characters you can use them over and over again. I
provided pictures of the characters, names, some basic
ground rules, and character qualities. I created Buddhist
monks or nuns, prostitutes, yak and camel handlers, Mon-
gol guards, innkeepers, water sellers, fruit sellers, various
merchants, healers, a safety-deposit-box holder, transla-
tors, horse tenders, a seminomadic chieftain with wool,
and visiting royalty from China’s capital. You could add
thieves, the family of the trader, and many others. The
book Life Along the Silk Road offers some excellent ex-
amples for re-creation. Designate the market town and
explain or have students research what a caravanserai ac-
tually is. The main character is your fictional trader, who
is going on a trading trip. Decide on basic rules, how much
money you provide him, what form it is in, his religion, his
language, and so on. It will probably work best if the town
you choose is on the geologic border between mountains
and desert. Then you can encourage students to get rid of
one set of animals, camels, for example, and hire yaks and
and yak handlers. With each of these encounters the char-
acters they speak to have to introduce themselves and tell
a litt le about their lives, what they do, and how they would
live. The entire class must observe each interaction so it is
not complete chaos. At times students make choices, and
the class can help with making those choices.
 Chapter 6 Shrinking the Afro-Eurasian World, 350 bce–250 ce ◆ 79
As an example, imagine that your main character
chooses to hire yak handlers. The yak handlers explain that
they are seminomadic. They talk a litt le about yaks and
their significance; ideally you can put a PowerPoint image
of yaks on the screen while they do this. By using Pow-
erPoint or a Web program, you have the ability to move
quickly “along the imaginary Silk Road.” The yak handlers
explain that they guide people over a particular mountain
chain, like the Tianshan Mountains. The handlers then
wait on the other side of the range for a merchant to hire
them to travel across again. Then your merchant needs to
barter or purchase the goods that he hopes to trade at the
end of his journey. To do that he would have to know what
is desirable in the area in which he is going. Have students
actually go through the act of bartering. I have gone to a
dollar store and bought Mardi Gras beads and children’s
fake jewelry for them to use. I also use real, whole spices
and real brass items, wool yarn that I had, and silk pieces.
These are just examples of the quick bits of action stu-
dents will go through in this activity. It is useful to switch
genders; let your male students play female roles and vice
versa. Th is is good for a laugh and loosens everyone up,
but it also makes students think more carefully about the
freedoms or restrictions the people lived with. In the next
class period, help students synthesize the actions into
concepts with your lecture by referring back to the pre-
vious day’s events. Pick the students carefully. You will
need gregarious students to play the merchant role. But
surprisingly, everyone becomes involved. Although not
all students get to play a role (what the merchant chooses
to do is a game of chance), they do all enjoy it and learn
from the process. If you keep students on task and prepare
them, you can complete the trading by the end of a class
period. The next class period can reinforce the trade with
the lecture suggested in the lecture section.
Dhows
The boats discussed in this chapter, called dhows, were
found only in the Indian Ocean and differed distinctly
from the design of Greek triremes, Chinese junks, and
Roman triremes. Help your students understand the
technological differences of these early ships by region
so that they begin to consider why differences might have
existed. Create an exercise that asks them to analyze ships
from three major geographic areas: the Indian dhow, the
Greek triremes, and the Chinese junks. For example,
the early dhow had distinctive features: double-ended
hulls and triangular or lateen sails. The hull boards were
stitched together with thongs or fiber. Provide pictures of
all three types and ask them to make suppositions about
their construction, the tools and materials necessary for
construction. The kind of waters in which they sailed
might dictate their shape, the distances they needed to
travel, and so on. You could also provide information to
facilitate this analysis, such as the trees that grow along
the coastlines in each region, the kinds of tools available
to people in each area, and the ocean currents. In this
complex problem-solving process, students will be more
successful if you let them work in groups. For more infor-
mation and images of dhows see:
The History and Construction of the Dhow
nabataea.net/ships.html
For Chinese junks:
scalemodel.net/Gallery/Chineseship.aspx
library.thinkquest.org/05aug/01780/transportation/
tools-shipbuilding.htm
For triremes, go to:
www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~loxias/trireme.htm
www.turbosquid.com/FullPreview/Index.cfm/
ID/206600
For information on ancient ships in general, see:
www2.rgzm.de/navis/home/frames.htm.
RECOMMENDED FILMS
■ Ancient Warriors: The Spartans (1994, 25 min.). This
brief documentary provides a good introduction to the
Spartans. Using the writings of ancient Greeks such as
Herodotus, Xenophon, and Thucydides, the fi lm brings
Sparta to life through the eyes of the sole survivor of the
batt le of Thermopylae, Aristodemus. Using Aristodemus
provides an interesting perspective of Spartan life, not
only warlike but also humanizing.
■ In the Footsteps of Alexander the Great (four-part se-
ries). Th is PBS documentary, narrated by Michael Wood,
retraces the arduous journey of Alexander the Great and
his army as they conquered sixteen countries and trav-
eled over twenty thousand miles. Engaging, relevant,
and historically thoughtful, any of these fi lms can prove
useful. Just choose the one that covers the area on which
you are lecturing. Part 1, “Son of God,” recounts Alex-
ander’s most difficult batt le at the city of Tyre, the Pal-
estinian legend of Two-Horned Alexander, and the point
at which Alexander was proclaimed pharaoh, son of god,
at an Egyptian oasis. Part 2, “Lord of Asia,” covers Alex-
ander’s crossing of Iran. Wood talks to modern nomads
about the oral history of Alexander’s love for an Amazon
queen and Iranians whose ancestors were enemies of Al-
80 ◆ Chapter 6 Shrinking the Afro-Eurasian World, 350 bce–250 ce
exander. Part 3, “Across the Hindu Kush,” shows Wood’s
travels through war-torn Afghanistan and along the Silk
Road. At Samarkand he stops at the place where Alexan-
der killed his friend in a drunken brawl. Part 4, “To the
Ends of the Earth,” takes Wood from the Khyber Pass
through Pakistan. Here Alexander’s army would go no
further. He agreed to return to Babylon, which is where
he died at 32 years of age. A Web site with teacher re-
sources is available at:
www.mpt.org/programsinterests/mpt/alexander/
■ Marco Polo’s Silk Road (2006, 90 min.) and The Silk
Road Collection (1990 for DVD, 630 min.). Two docu-
mentaries are considered the most important regarding
the Silk Road: Marco Polo’s Silk Road and The Silk Road
(with Kitaro’s musical score). Both are exceptional. Both
use original fi lm footage from China’s archives. The Silk
Road is more detailed (it is over 630 minutes) but the fi lm
is grainier. It was made in the 1980s; since then, much
additional information has come to light thanks to the
Chinese government’s release of records and a strength-
ening of scholarly bonds in regard to the Silk Road and
Dunhuang. Marco Polo’s Silk Road includes the newest re-
search, and the fi lm quality is better. Both movies focus
on the southern Silk Road, one disadvantage of the fi lms,
so if you are interested in the northern regions you will
not learn about them here.
■ Persepolis Recreated (2005, 41 min., with accompanying
book). Th is documentary was created by the Iranian fi lm-
maker Farzin Rezaeian to highlight the glory of Achae-
menid Persia, in particular the rule of Cyrus and Darius.
Using computer graphics to highlight architecture as
the unifying theme, Rezaeian expands on this civiliza-
tion’s multicultural influence and its tolerance and traces
its path to the Persian Empire’s zenith. When it was fi rst
released, the documentary was warmly received in the
United States, showing at the Library of Congress and nu-
merous universities. It is the most up to date in terms of
archaeological and historical discoveries.
■ Spartacus (1960, 184 min.). This older feature-length
fi lm still stands as one of the most historically correct
regarding the Roman slave revolts that occurred during
the transition of Rome from republic to empire. Sparta-
cus features an award-winning cast to recreate the life
of a slave in Rome pushed to the end of his tolerance.
Trained as a gladiator, he leads a slave revolt against the
Roman army. The fi lm traces his defeat and crucifi xion
at the behest of Emperor Crassus. However, you should
ignore Spartacus’ wife. Her character is purely fictional
and inaccurate—Rome didn’t invade Britain for another
twenty years. Plutarch speculated that she was probably
Th racian like Spartacus, although litt le is actually known
about her. You can enrich the fi lm experience by review-
ing information about the slave revolt and Spartacus at:
www.historyinfi lm.com/spart/real.htm
RECOMMENDED READING
Pierre Briant, 2002. From Cyrus to Alexander: A History
of the Persian Empire.
Maria Brosius, 2006. Persians: An Introduction.
Peter Green, 1974. Alexander of Macedon, rev. ed.
Vadime Elisseeff, 1998. The Silk Roads: Highways of
Culture and Commerce.
Richard C. Foltz, 1999. Religions of the Silk Road:
Overland Trade and Cultural Exchange from Antiquity
to the Fifteenth Century.
Charles Freeman, 2004. Egypt, Greece and Rome:
Civilizations of the Ancient Mediterranean.
Richard H. Robinson, Willard L. Johnson, and
Thanissaro Bhikkhu, 2004. Buddhist Religions: A
Historical Introduction (Religious Life in History),
5th ed.
S. J. Tambiah, 1976. World Conqueror and World
Renouncer.
Roderick Whitfield, Susan Whitfield, and Neville Agnew,
2000. Cave Temples of Mogao: Art and History on the
Silk Road.
Susan Whitfield, 2001. Life along the Silk Road.
Frances Wood, 2002. The Silk Road: Two Thousand Years
in the Heart of Asia.
WEB SITES
Ancient Greek Theater
Covers all aspects of Greek theater
academic.reed.edu/humanities/110tech/Theater.
html
Ancient Indians: The Mauryans, 321–185 b.c.
University site with overview of the Mauryan Empire
and leadership
www.wsu.edu/~dee/ANCINDIA/MAURYA.HTM
Hellenistic World
Very detailed list of primary sources
www.fordham.edu/halsall/ancient/asbook08.html
History of Silk
Images and information
www.silk-road.com/artl/silkhistory.shtml
 Chapter 6 Shrinking the Afro-Eurasian World, 350 bce–250 ce ◆ 81
Illustrated History of the Roman Empire
The largest site on the Roman Empire and a tremendous
source for links
www.roman-empire.net/index.html
Life of Ashoka Mauryan
Basic information about one of the leaders of the
Mauryan Empire with links
www.csuchico.edu/~cheinz/syllabi/asst001/
spring98/Ashoka.htm
Persian Empire
Good overview with maps and primary documents
www.crystalinks.com/persia.html
Ptolemies
Dynastic list with biography of each leader
www.livius.org/ps-pz/ptolemies/ptolemies.htm
Romans
Excellent site with games and 3-D architectural
renderings as well as other detailed information
www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/romans/
Silk Road Foundation
Fairly complete site with interactive information, links,
etc.
www.silk-road.com/toc/index.html
The Silk Road: Materials for an E-History
Very detailed series of lectures on all aspects of the Silk
Road
faculty.washington.edu/dwaugh/srehist.html
CH A PTER 7

Han Dynasty China and

Imperial Rome, 300 bce–300 ce

▶ China and Rome: How Empires Are Built ▶ The Roman Empire
Unprecedented Power: Roman and Han Comparison of Han and Roman Empires
Characteristics Foundations of the Roman Empire
Han and Roman Differences Population Movements
▶ The Qin Dynasty Military Institutions and Conquests
Administration and control Political Institutions and Internal Confl ict
Economic and Social Changes Emperors, Authoritarian Rule, and Administration
The Xiongnu and the Qin Along the Northern Town and City Life
Frontier Mass Entertainment
The Qin Debacle Social and Gender Relations
▶ The Han Dynasty Economy and New Scales of Production
Foundations of Han Power The Limits of Empire
Expansion of the Empire and the Silk Road
Social Convulsions and the Usurper
Natural Disaster and Rebellion
The Later Han Dynasty

LECTURE OUTLINE B. Han and Roman differences

1. Public servants
Th is chapter explores two of the major imperial powers
a. Han: civilian magistrates and
to appear in world history: Rome and the Han dynasty.
bureaucrats
It discusses the origins of these empires, how each used
b. Roman: citizen, soldier, military
centralized authority to rule a large territorial empire,
governor
and how each incorporated the diverse peoples under its
2. Ideals for empire
control. The chapter also deals with the major accom-
a. Han: emulation of past models
plishments of each empire, such as the construction of the
b. Roman: pragmatic innovation and
Great Wall of China and the roads and aqueducts of Rome.
adaptation
Eventually the paths of the empires crossed as trade along
c. Both became models for later
the Silk Road increased. Even empires have their limits;
imperialists
neither the Han Dynasty nor the Roman Empire was an
exception. Cultures on the frontiers posed challenges and
II. The Qin Dynasty
offered ideals that could sometimes challenge the central
A. Administration and control
authority.
1. Political organization and control
I. China and Rome: How Empires Are Built a. Commanderies with civilian and
A. Unprecedented power: Roman and Han military governors
characteristics b. Registration of males for army and
1. Size, quality, and lasting worldwide impact public labor
2. Cultural, economic, administrative control c. Control by censorship

82
 Chapter 7 Han Dynasty China and Imperial Rome, 300 bce–300 ce ◆ 83

d. Standardized weights, measures, c. Confucian ideals became imperial

currency doctrine
2. Legalism i. No more rule by fear
a. Stability through strict law and 6. The new social order and the economy
punishment a. Alliances with diverse social groups
b. Group responsibility for individuals b. Encouragement of class mobility
3. Qin orthodoxy c. Economic expansion
4. Road systems i. Agrarian base
5. Standardized writing style ii. State-owned industries
B. Economic and social changes iii. State monopolies
1. Expansion of agriculture iv. Improved economic policies
a. Role of government d. Organization of Han cities and
b. Role of peasant farmers society
2. Economic changes i. The rich
a. Farms replace royal manors ii. Women
b. Profit from surpluses iii. Lower classes
c. Business and labor contracts iv. Scholar-gentry
d. Long-distance trade e. Failure of Han to limit power of local
e. Merchant class and trade networks lords
f. Government trade tariffs i. Size of empire
C. The Xiongnu and the Qin along the northern ii. Local uprisings
frontier 7. Religion and omens
1. Beginnings of the Great Wall a. Confucianism influences religion
a. Qin relationship with Xiongnu nomadic b. Astronomical and natural forces seen as
warriors omens against emperor
D. The Qin debacle B. Expansion of the empire and the Silk Road
1. Qin collapse 1. Han military expanded empire and created
a. Constant warfare led to heavy taxes safe trading routes
b. Former nobles and conscripted workers 2. Expanding borders
mutiny a. Han control from southeastern China
c. Civil war to northern Vietnam
d. Rise of the Han 3. The Xiongnu, the Yuezhi, and the Han
dynasty
III. The Han Dynasty a. Symbiotic relationship with nomads to
A. Foundations of Han power the north
1. Alliance between imperial family and b. Han attempt to ally with Yuezhi against
scholar-gentry elite Xiongnu fails
2. Economic, social, military, bureaucratic i. Expedition leads to information
supports about frontier peoples
3. Humanization of legal punishments c. Roman frontier threats
4. Power and administration i. Contact between Roman and Han
a. Power given to royal relatives and via Silk Road
supporters 4. The Chinese peace: Trade, oases, and the
b. Organization of ruling hierarchy Silk Road
c. Highly centralized bureaucracy a. Peaceful era after Xiongnu submit to
d. Han administration replaces regional Han army
princes i. Pax Sinica–Pax Romana
e. Government schools produce scholar- ii. Expansion of Great Wall
officials, bureaucrats iii. Soldiers sett le frontier
5. Confucian ideology and legitimate rule iv. Oasis system enhances trade
a. Importance of people’s welfare routes
b. Civilize locals and support elites C. Social convulsions and the usurper
84 ◆ Chapter 7 Han Dynasty China and Imperial Rome, 300 bce–300 ce
1. Military expansion drains treasury and
raises taxes
a. Dispossessed peasant farmers become
rebels
2. Usurper Wang Mang takes control and
attempts social reforms
D. Natural disaster and rebellion
1. Yellow River changes course
a. Demographic changes
b. Regular peasant revolts
c. Reasons for overthrow of Wang Mang
E. The later Han dynasty
1. Deregulated economic policies to benefit
landowners, business, trade
2. Increased social inequality leads to
rebellion
a. Yellow Emperor replaces Confucius
b. Daoist Master Laozi treated as god
c. Rise of Buddhism
d. Daoists challenge later Han
3. Th ree states replace Han
a. Northwest: Wei
b. Southwest: Shu
c. South: Wu
4. No reunification until Tang dynasty
IV. The Roman Empire
A. Comparison of Han and Roman empires
1. Comparable size and scale
a. Rome ruled lands along seacoasts
b. Han ruled vast landmass
2. Both used violent conquest to unite
empire
B. Foundations of the Roman Empire
1. Reasons for the increasing power of Rome
as city-state
a. Migration of foreign peoples
b. Roman military and political
innovations
2. Population movements
a. Movement of Gauls into northern Italy
b. Etruscans lose power in Italy
3. Military institutions and conquests
a. Conquered communities provided men
for army
b. The Punic Wars, Carthaginians,
Hannibal
c. Male military honor and training
d. Military prowess matched only by
China
4. Political institutions and internal confl ict
a. Reasons for internal tension
i. Inadequate government
organization
ii. Powerful elite dispossesses farmers
iii. Increasing power of military
commanders
b. Civil wars begin
C. Emperors, authoritarian rule, and
administration
1. Peace through authoritarian rule
a. Emperors portrayed themselves as civil
rulers
b. Abuses of power
c. Military as government
D. Town and city life
1. Local administration through urban
centers
2. Rome comparable only with Han capitals
3. Characteristics of life in Rome
a. Emperor ensured citizens’ welfare
b. Unsanitary
4. Uniform rules and regulations across
empire
E. Mass entertainment
1. Theaters and amphitheaters
a. The Colosseum
b. Open to all Roman citizens
c. Similar entertainment available to Han
elite in China
F. Social and gender relations
1. Wealthy patronage of lower class
2. Judicial system
a. Unifying characteristic of empire
3. Importance of family
a. Paterfamilias
b. Census
4. Personal freedom of women
5. Unifying characteristic of writing Latin
G. Economy and new scales of production
1. Large-scale agricultural, manufacturing,
and mining production
2. Road networks link empire
a. Creation of land maps
b. Connection with sea routes and trade
c. Efficient use of coinage
3. Use of chattel slaves for mining and
plantation agriculture
a. Latifundia
4. Importance of private property ownership
5. Religious cults and the rise of Christianity
a. Confl ict between Christianity and
Roman authority
i. Jesus and followers
 Chapter 7 Han Dynasty China and Imperial Rome, 300 bce–300 ce ◆ 85
ii. Crucifi xion by Romans
b. Persecution of Christians
H. The limits of empire
1. Ecological limits to west and south
2. Short-term limits of Parthians and
Sasanians of Central Asia
3. Harsh winters to north along Danube and
Rhine
a. Slave trade
V. Conclusion
A. Comparison of Han and Roman empires
1. Use of slaves for expansion
2. Economic role of peasant farmers
3. Extent of unification within empire
4. Evolution of two empires
5. Unprecedented power of both
LECTURE IDEAS
Women’s Agency in Han China
and Imperial Rome
Women’s agency in Han China and imperial Rome offers
insight into the general att itudes of the day. A lecture that
expands on this concept in the light of class structure and
women’s rights prior to the emergence of these empires
will be helpful. Expand on women’s rights as healers to
move around the countryside unimpeded, to earn a liv-
ing, and to inherit property. You will fi nd some interesting
differences, especially if you consider women over time. It
is also useful to look at women’s agency in each empire’s
trading partners, the pastoral groups. For example, Mon-
gol women were known to fight as warriors, unlike in Han
China. Encourage students to make inferences about the
level of development and the level of restriction. For fur-
ther information see:
www.fordham.edu/halsall/women/womensbook.
html
www.hyperhistory.net/apwh/essays/comp/
cw04womenhanrome.htm
www.h-net.msu.edu/~asia/bibs/bibebrey.html
Internal Conflict and Revolts
You can easily structure a lecture around internal confl ict
and revolts. For example, during the Han dynasty’s later
period, there were numerous peasant revolts and inter-
nal political intrigue, including the peasant rebellions of
the Taoist-leaning Yellow Turbans in 184 ce and the Five
Pecks of Rice in 190 ce:
www.eng.taoism.org.hk/general-daoism/development-
of-daoism/pg1-2-3-3.asp
The rebellions of the royal eunuchs offer yet another ex-
ample. You could also create a lecture on the numerous
revolts in the Roman Empire, either coups led by military
leaders or the many peasant rebellions. There are multiple
sources on the Year of the Four Emperors:
www.pbs.org/empires/romans/index.html
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_ Empire
Or you could focus on the Jewish revolts as examples.
Finally, you could choose to show the social parallels that
led to increasing revolts and coups in both empires. The
patterns are the same; only the names change.
Religions along the Silk Road
During the Han dynasty, the Silk Road was established,
and trading began to flourish along its many paths. One
could argue that the greatest items to be traded were not
tangible but intangible—the sharing of ideas and cultural
exchange. In particular, the Silk Road became the shel-
ter for religions that later were deemed heretical in other
places. A lecture explaining the growth of the practice of
pilgrimage; its purpose; and its economic, cultural, and
spiritual value could provide a starting point for a brief
historical overview of the religions that came to thrive
along the Silk Road. Provide historical background to the
major universal religions so that your students are at least
familiar with some of these still extant offshoots: Nestori-
anism, Manicheanism, Zoroastrianism, Jainism.
Rome and Carthage
It is generally agreed among genocide scholars that al-
though earlier mass killings have occurred, such as by
the Assyrians, the fi rst clear evidence we have of a geno-
cide as it is defi ned today was by the Romans against the
Carthaginians. A useful lecture would recount what initi-
ated the enmity between the two groups; the subsequent
three Punic Wars; information about their deified leaders,
Hannibal and Scipio Africanus; and the fi nal outcome—
the complete destruction of Carthage. For further details
see:
www.wsu.edu/~dee/ROME/PUNICWAR.HTM
www.carthage.edu/dept/outis/carthage.html
Rome’s Military Genius
In many instances the Romans appear to have lacked the
interest or creativity to create a culture of their own. Much
86 ◆ Chapter 7 Han Dynasty China and Imperial Rome, 300 bce–300 ce
of their culture is borrowed, for example, their architec-
ture, their gods, the idea for a navy. On the other hand,
if one considers Rome’s accomplishments in the realm of
war and expansion, here their brilliance is clear. Thus it
would be evenhanded to provide a lecture that expands
on the Romans’ many military accomplishments. When
doing so you need to take into account a wide variety of
elements, from roads needed to move an army quickly
to military strategy and diplomacy to the development
of weapons and fighting tactics. See The Roman War Ma-
chine in Recommended Films as support material for the
lecture.
CLASS ACTIVITIES
Technological Advancements
Both Rome and China succeeded in making significant
technological advancements during this time frame.
Often we have no idea how or where new technologies de-
veloped. Provide your students with drawings and short
descriptions of a variety of advancements, and then have
them match the technologies with the countries they be-
lieve to be appropriate. Here is a variety of technological
advancements that you could use.
◆ Horse collar: China, third century bce. Unlike the
throat-and-girth harness used in the West, which
choked a horse and reduced its efficiency, the collar
harness allowed a single horse to haul a ton and a half.
The trace harness arrived in the West in the sixth
century and had made its way across Europe by the
eighth century.
◆ Aqueducts: Rome
◆ Abacus: No one is certain who fi rst invented the
abacus, although the credit is generally given to the
Chinese or the Babylonians. The Romans provide
us with the oldest existing portable counting device,
based on earlier Greek counting boards. It greatly
reduced the time needed to perform calculations.
◆ Segmented armor: Roman, armor that covers the
full torso and was made of segmented plates. Th is
segmented light armour provided flexibility and
protection of most vital areas of the body.
◆ Surgical instruments: Romans had various surgical
instruments as did other ancient civilizations. We
know the Romans manufactured tweezers, forceps,
and scalpels, for example.
◆ Hypocaust: a Roman system of central heating. The
word means “heat from below.”
◆ Moldboard plow: China, third century bce. Called
kuan, these advanced plowshares were made of
malleable cast iron. They had a central ridge ending
in a sharp point to cut the soil and wings that sloped
gently towards the center to throw the soil off the plow
and reduce friction. When brought to Holland in the
seventeenth century, these plows began the second
agricultural revolution.
◆ Seismograph: China, second century ce. China
has always been plagued with earthquakes. The
government wanted to know where the economy
would be disrupted. In 132 ce, a seismograph was
developed by the scientist, mathematician, and
inventor Chang Heng, as noted in court records of the
later Han dynasty. Modern seismographs began their
development in 1848.
◆ Discovery of circulation of the blood: China, second
century bce. Most people believe blood circulation
was first discovered by William Harvey in 1628, but
other recorded notations dating back to the writings
of an Arab of Damascus, Ibn al-Nafis (d. 1288), imply
otherwise. Circulation appears discussed in full
and complex form in the Yellow Emperor’s Manual of
Corporeal Medicine in China by the second century bce.
◆ Paper: China, second century bce. Papyrus, the inner
bark of the papyrus plant, is not true paper. Paper is
a sheet of sediment that results from the sett ling of
a layer of disintegrated fibers from a watery solution
onto a flat mold. The oldest surviving paper dates to
110 ce and contains about two dozen characters. The
Arabs sold paper to Europeans until manufacture
began in the West.
Fruits and Vegetables
Origins of Fruits and Vegetables. Food and eating are
the center of life and culture and a key component for
community building. It thus is logical to draw in eating
practices when discussing the history of a group or pe-
riod. With a focus on two empires this chapter is aptly
designed for creating a number of themes around food.
You could simply bring in some of the fruits and veg-
etables that originated in both areas for students to taste
with fact sheets on the history of each food, including
when and how knowledge of the food spread to other
areas. The artichoke (second millennium bce), aspara-
gus (200 bce), and strawberries (200 bce) are all indig-
enous to Rome. Kiwi fruit (Tang dynasty, 600 ce), citrus
fruits (3000 bce), and rhubarb (2700 bce) all were fi rst
cultivated in China. Providing histories of foods allows
you, at the very least, to draw on social, biological, genea-
logical, and geological histories. Offering your students
the foods to eat while they discover the histories of the
food creates a camaraderie that evokes deep learning.
 Chapter 7 Han Dynasty China and Imperial Rome, 300 bce–300 ce ◆ 87
You can take the learning process further in many ways.
Students can bring in ancient recipes with their histories
or prepared foods with those ingredients. You can bring
in prepared foods with ancient recipes and their history.
One interesting theme for this chapter is to focus on the
word gluttony. In Rome, for example, Seneca wrote in the
Moral Epistles, Cum ad cenandum discubuimus, alius
sputa deterget, alius reliquias temulentorum [toro] sub-
ditus colligit, “When we recline at a banquet, one [slave]
wipes up the spitt le; another, situated beneath [the table],
collects the leavings of the drunks.” Cicero wrote about
Julius Caesar that he “expressed a desire to vomit after
dinner” (vomere post cenam te velle dixisses) in Pro rege de-
iotaro. The gluttony in Rome led Petronius to write the
early novel Satyricon, with its famous dinner scene. Many
Romans created laws to try to control the gluttony out
of concern that Roman soldiers would lose their fighting
edge. Contrast the Satyricon with Chinese historical writ-
ing about food of the time. You could provide students
with the poem “The Summons of the Dead” (221 bce) as
a starting point. Much was written about the principled
containment of desire during the Warring States period.
You can provide students with excerpts from Confucius
or Lao Tzu, in particular. For further information and a
list of spices and exotic foods and their history, see:
www.menumagazine.co.uk/book/book.html
The following texts are also helpful: In the Devil’s Gar-
den: A Sinful History of Forbidden Food by Stewart Lee
Allen and The Origins of Fruit and Vegetables by Jonathan
Roberts (see Recommended Reading).
Municipal Planning
The physical layout of the capitals of the Han dynasty
(Chang’an) and the Roman Empire (Rome) embody each
empire’s closely held values. Provide your students with
the city layouts. Make sure they have read the material
in the texts about the two empires and preferably assign
this activity after your lectures on the areas. Ask them to
evaluate how the physical city layouts are representative
of the general worldviews and moral values of the two em-
pires. How are they different? Rome appears to have been
a sprawling, unplanned seat of political power. But after
having your students carefully study the city map they
might fi nd the plan to be a litt le different than they origi-
nally thought. For a map of fourth century Rome, see:
www.unicaen.fr/rome/visite3.php?action=visitePlan
&langue=anglais.
For Han Dynasty Chang’an, go to:
www.monkeytree.org/city/read.htm.
Chang’an was the site of the capital of Western Han. It
was also the ending point for the Silk Road, making it one
of the most important cities in the East. Because it was
both a center of economic trade and the empire’s political
center, it was a busy place. For a magnificent reconstruc-
tion of Chang’an during the Tang dynasty, see:
www.arch.nus.edu.sg/casa/projects/hck_changan/
pages/content.htm
As part of your discussion, you might mention that
cities evolve in a number of ways. Some cities, such as
Chang’an, are carefully planned, usually to reinforce the
government’s or ruler’s power. Other cities grow because
they are the heart of commercial centers. Th is too was an
aspect of Chang’an’s history. Some cities evolve as sacred
centers, locations of pilgrimage, or the birthplace or burial
place of a famous person. Still other cities began as centers
of “cosmic power.” Many of these are located in Asia. They
are intended to represent the people’s idea of the cosmos or
of the ruler’s relationship to the cosmos. Cities that began
for this reason are Chang’an, Beijing, Kyoto, and Angkor
Wat. The study of city planning is not a new idea. Several
excellent web sites provide even more detailed activities
regarding comparisons of Chang’an and Rome. Use this
information as a starting point and then refi ne your ideas
using these Web sites:
www.monkeytree.org/city/seeC.htm
www.unicaen.fr/rome/visite3.php?langue=anglais
www.monkeytree.org/city/city.htm
These Web sites provide excellent forms of analy-
sis for your students with many additional open-ended
questions.
RECOMMENDED FILMS
■ Ancient China (1996, 50 min.). This documentary be-
gins with one of China’s creation legends and ends at the
fall of the Han dynasty. Therefore, only the latter fi fteen to
twenty minutes will be relevant to this chapter. However,
the cultural information on Han China is very good, with
scenes of the Great Wall, Beijing opera, the Imperial Pal-
ace, and the terra cotta army.
■ The First Emperor of China (1989, 42 min.). This inter-
active laserdisc and multimedia CD-ROM allows you to
explore with your students the tomb of Qin Shi Huangdi.
It covers the initial excavation, the history of the Qin dy-
nasty and the emperor, and the tomb itself. Th is is the best
way to introduce students to one of the greatest archaeo-
logical fi nds of the twentieth century as it contains proba-
bly the most complete information in the West. To access
88 ◆ Chapter 7 Han Dynasty China and Imperial Rome, 300 bce–300 ce
this and other data sign up at the free Global Memory Net
site (www.memorynet.org/home.php; you must register
for free to use this site) sponsored by the National Science
Foundation. The Emperor Collection consists of over
4,000 selected images on the emperor’s seven thousand
plus terra-cotta warriors and horses.
■ The Immortal Emperor: Shihuangdi (1996, 50 min.). This
fi lm utilizes computer animation to recreate the missing
pieces of the emperor’s tomb. World-renowned experts
provide detailed information regarding the tomb, the pe-
riod’s society, and the emperor himself.
■ The Roman Empire in the First Century (2001, 219 min.).
Using narratives and other primary-source writing, this
documentary attempts to bring understanding to the
chaos that occurred in the fi rst century ce of the Roman
Empire. Th is format brings to life the many people af-
fected by the civil war, from emperors to senators to poets
and plebeians to slaves. An accompanying Web site with
teaching resources is at:
www.pbs.org/empires/romans/index.html
■ The Roman War Machine (2001, four parts, each 45
min.). Th is Arts & Entertainment documentary series
focuses on the brilliant military ability of the Romans,
those skills that really helped to turn Rome into an empire
stretching from Asia to the Atlantic and Africa to England.
The series examines all aspects of warfare from leadership
to weaponry to their enemies. Part 1, “First Our Neigh-
bors,” examines the beginning of the “machine.” Part 2,
“Roman Versus Roman” looks at 55 bce to 69 ce, with an
overview of Roman history and a focus on war during this
period. Part 3, “Siege Warfare,” specifically addresses how
Romans handled expansion and those groups who did not
choose to become a part of the growing empire. Part 4,
“Barbarians at the Gate,” begins in the second century ce
at the period of Rome’s greatest expansion and shows how
Rome attempted to retain those lands it conquered.
RECOMMENDED READING
Stewart Lee Allen, 2002. In the Devil’s Garden: A Sinful
History of Forbidden Food.
Richard Beacham, 1999. Spectacle Entertainments of Early
Imperial Rome.
Christopher Bryan, 2005. Render to Caesar: Jesus, the
Early Church, and the Roman Superpower.
Elaine Fantham, Helen Peet Foley, Natalie Boymel
Kampen, Sarah B. Pomeroy, and H. A. Shapiro,
1995. Women in the Classical World: Image and Text.
Adrian Goldsworthy, 2003. The Complete Roman Army.
Grant Hardy and Anne Behnke Kinney, 2005. The
Establishment of the Han Empire and Imperial China.
Bret Hinsch, 2002. Women in Early Imperial China.
Mark Edward Lewis, 2007. The Early Chinese Empires:
Qin and Han.
Jonathan Roberts, 2001. The Origins of Fruits and
Vegetables.
Graham Webster, 1998. The Roman Imperial Army: Of the
First and Second Centuries a.d.
WEB SITES
Ancient Chinese Technologies
Links to a wide variety of early Chinese technological
and scientific advancements
www.madera.k12.ca.us/teacherresources/
ResourcePagesforTeachers/
Carthage
Extensive site on the history of Carthage
www.carthage.edu/dept/outis/carthage.html
China
Overview of the periods in Chinese prehistory
www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/prehistory/china/index.
html
China: Dawn of a Golden Age, 200–750 a.d.
Offers a number of artworks of the Han dynasty and the
post-Han period with excellent teaching resources
www.metmuseum.org/special/China/index.asp
China the Beautiful
A series of links to all aspects of traditional and historical
China
www.chinapage.com/china-rm.html
Classics Unveiled
Excellent site on Rome with a wide variety of information
www.classicsunveiled.com/index.html
Roman Empire
Lengthy entry with good maps, lists of emperors and
links
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_ Empire
The Roman Empire in the First Century
Interactive Web site with teaching resources from PBS
for accompanying fi lm
www.pbs.org/empires/romans/index.html
Rome Project
One of the largest collections of historical information
on Rome on the Internet
intranet.dalton.org/groups/rome/
CH A PTER 8
The Rise of Universal Religions,
300–600 ce
▶ Universal Religions and Common Cultures
▶ Empires and Religious Change in Western Afro-
Eurasia
The Rise of Christianity
Religious Debate and Christian Universalism
The Conversion of Constantine
Christianity in the Cities
The Christian Empire
The Fall of Rome: A Takeover from the Margins
Who Were the Barbarians?
Continuity in Change
Byzantium, Rome in the East: The Rise of
Constantinople
Sasanian Persia
Kings of Eran and An-Iran
An Empire at the Crossroads
▶ The Silk Road
LECTURE OUTLINE
Th is chapter examines the spread of universal religions
and common cultures throughout Afro-Eurasia, Africa,
and Mesoamerica between 300 and 600 ce. The chapter
opens with a trial of early Christians by the Roman Em-
pire. As Christianity matured, the Roman emperor Con-
stantine embraced the religion for the Roman Empire.
Eventually Rome fell to outsiders known as the barbar-
ians. But the spread of Christianity led to a continuation
of Roman ideals even after the empire dissolved. The Silk
Road through Central Asia harbored many religions and
provided a means for Buddhism to migrate to China. In
China, Buddhism provided legitimacy for the Wei dy-
nasty of the north against Han prejudice in the south.
South Asia also underwent religious reform as Brahman-
ism spread, leading to a common Indic culture. In sub-
Saharan Africa, Bantu-speaking people migrated from
northwest Africa, spreading their language, culture, and
agricultural skills both east and south. Mesoamerica saw
Connected Eastern Roman Interests with Asia
Between Iran and China: The Sogdians and Lords of
the Silk Road
Buddhism on the Silk Road
▶ Political and Religious Change in South Asia
The Transformation of the Buddha
The Hindu Transformation
A Code of Conduct Instead of an Empire
▶ Political and Religious Change in East Asia
Downsizing: Northern and Southern China
Buddhism in China
Daoism, Alchemy, and the Transmutation of Self
▶ Faith and Cultures in the Worlds Apart
Bantus of Sub-Saharan Africa
Mesoamericans
Teotihuacán
Mayans
the rise and fall of Teotihuacán and the Mayans. The Ma-
yans shared a common language and social system, but
their great cities eventually collapsed when resources and
warfare brought down the populous cities. As universal
religions such as Christianity, Buddhism, and Brahman-
ism/Hinduism and cultures such as the Bantus’ spread,
one more universal religion was about to enter the picture
and challenge the dominance of earlier religions.
I. Universal Religions and Common Cultures
A. Increase in religious ferment throughout Afro-
Eurasia
1. West: Christianity
2. India: Vedic evolved into Hinduism
3. Northern India, Asia, China: Buddhism
B. Politics shaped religion, and religion shaped
politics
1. Afro-Eurasian spirituality shaped imperial
frameworks
2. Western Europe and Christianity
89
90 ◆ Chapter 8 The Rise of Universal Religions, 300–600 ce

3. Eastern Roman imperium, Byzantium, and a. Christians labeled non-Christians

Christianity pagani (pagans)
4. India, Hinduism, and Buddhism D. Christianity in the cities
5. Central Asia, China, and Buddhism 1. Basilicas
C. Universal religion not essential for creating a. Cathedra, bishop’s throne
empires of the mind b. Heaven on earth
1. African Bantu peoples 2. Relief to the poor
2. Central American Mayans 3. Judges
D. Religion influenced society and culture in other E. The Christian empire
ways 1. Spread through new languages
1. Issues of truth, loyalty, and solidarity a. Coptic
2. Answers about human nature b. Syriac
a. Why they lived in society 2. Council of Nicaea
b. Why they married and had children a. Nicaean Creed
c. Whom they should obey (an invisible b. Easter
person) and to what extent 3. Eusebius, bishop of Caesarea in Palestine
d. What martyrs thought worth dying for F. The fall of Rome: A takeover from the
e. Helped distinguish between right and margins
wrong G. Who were the barbarians?
3. Freed cultures of older heritages 1. Status determined by ability to fight
4. Led to new identities shaped by a shared 2. Surplus warriors
faith a. Visigoths migration
5. Could drive nations apart through 3. Goths in Gaul
intolerance of others’ beliefs H. Continuity in change
E. Religious beliefs could travel anywhere 1. Roman influence remained
1. Religious leaders traveled widely 2. Fear of the Huns
a. Books, scrolls, tablets 3. Att ila’s Empire in eastern and central
b. Discussed their own beliefs Europe
2. Universal religions were on the 4. King Alaric II’s law code
move 5. Post-empire Rome like post-Han China
a. Travels of Xuanzang 6. The Roman Catholic church
i. Buddhist scripture from India to I. Byzantium, Rome in the east: The rise of
Chang’an Constantinople
1. Constantine’s “New Rome”
II. Empires and Religious Change in Western Asia 2. Justinian
A. The rise of Christianity a. Reformed Roman Laws
1. Martyrs i. Digest
a. Vibia Perpetua ii. Institutes
b. Women had important roles b. Reconquers Italy
B. Religious debate and Christian universalism c. Hagia Sophia
1. Constantine moves Rome to Christian J. Sasanian Persia
faith 1. Bubonic Plague
2. Rabbinical reform of Judaism K. Kings of Eran and An-Iran
3. Discussion over obedience to God 1. Royal dynasty ruled Iran and non-Iranians
a. Christian Codex 2. Captial of Ctesiphon (near modern
C. The conversion of Constantine Baghdad)
1. Background of Constantine a. Great Arch of Kesr/Kisra
a. Proclaimed emperor in 306 ce 3. Khusro Anochirwan
b. Labarum symbol a. Sack of Rome’s Antioch
2. Proclamation for designating bishops tax 4. Persia and Roman war
exempt 5. Tolerant of Jews and Christians
3. Other religions suffered a. Christian missionaries
 Chapter 8 The Rise of Universal Religions, 300–600 ce ◆ 91
6. Crossroads of Central Asian, Indian, and
Greek culture
7. Persian armored cavalry
L. An empire at the crossroads
1. Religious tolerance felt under Sasanian rule
2. Jews compile Babylonian Talmud
3. Nestorian Christians
4. Blend of Greek, Central Asian, and Indian
culture
5. Christian Ethiopia and Axum
6. War in Africa supported by Persia and
Rome
7. Arabian Peninsula becomes batt leground
for empires and religious difference
III. The Silk Road
A. Sogdian people maintained Silk Route
B. Connected eastern Roman interests with Asia
C. Provided way for universalistic religious
movements to flow
D. Central Asia hub of cross-cultural contact
E. Between Iran and China: The Sogdians as
Lords of the Silk Road
1. Sogdians mediators of culture and
commerce
a. Religion
b. Language
c. Goods
d. Architecture
F. Buddhism on the Silk Road
1. Buddhism spread to China through
traveling monks
2. Buddhist cave monasteries at Dunhuang
3. Large, carved Buddhas
a. Bamiyan
b. Yungang
IV. Political and Religious Change in South Asia
A. Gupta dynasty
1. United northern India
2. Supported poets and playwrights
B. The transformation of the Buddha
1. The Mahayana (Greater Vehicle)
2. Hinayana (Lesser Vehicle)
3. Buddha becomes a god
C. The Hindu transformation
1. Vedic revival leads to Hinduism
2. Believers become vegetarians
3. Absorbed Buddhist and Jain practices
4. Th ree major deities
a. Brahma
b. Vishnu
c. Siva
5. Eternal self—atma
6. Monotheism
7. Personal devotion called bhakti
D. A code of conduct instead of an empire
1. Hinduism established “correct” social
order
a. Code of Manu
i. Marriage
ii. Profession
iii. Dietary rules
iv. Way to cope with changing society
2. Hinduism spread to areas away from state
control
3. Religious belief helped create a shared
“Indic” culture
V. Political and Religious Change in East Asia
A. Downsizing: Northern and Southern China
1. Th ree kingdoms created following the fall
of the Han
a. Shu
b. Wu
c. Wei
2. Six Dynasties Period—Time of Civil War
3. Wei Dynasty
a. Kept Chinese imperial standards
b. Adapted army to urban-based military
technology
c. Built public works with corvée labor as
did the Han
d. Tried to make government more
“Chinese”
i. Dowager Empress Fang’s land
reforms
B. Buddhism in China
1. Kumaraji, Buddhist scholar and missionary
a. Translated Buddhist texts into Chinese
b. Clarified Buddhist terms and
philosophy
c. Established Madhyamika Buddhism
1. Provided legitimacy for northern states
2. Took on different forms in different regions
C. Daoism, alchemy, and the transmutation of self
1. Two new Daoist traditions
a. External alchemy
b. Internal alchemy
VI. Faith and Cultures in the Worlds Apart
A. Bantus of sub-Saharan Africa
1. Bantu language unifies people through
sub-Saharan Africa
92 ◆ Chapter 8 The Rise of Universal Religions, 300–600 ce

2. Bantu history D. Weak central state in India led to reform of

a. Migrated east and west Vedic into Hinduism
b. Absorbed other hunting and gathering E. Sub-Saharan Africa and Mesoamerica did
populations not experience the spread of universalizing
c. Sett led agriculturalists religions
i. Banana crops F. 300–600 ce saw the emergence of three great
d. Organized into small-scale societies cultural unities defi ned in religious terms
i. Based on age 1. Christianity
3. Bantu vision of the world 2. Brahmanism/Hinduism
a. Intense relationship to the world of 3. Buddhism
nature
b. Ancestral spirits
c. Diviners and charms LECTURE IDEAS
B. Mesoamericans Women and Universal Religions
1. Teotihuacán
a. City-state Women played central roles in the infant stages of all uni-
b. Warfare helped control hinterlands versal religions. Th is was soon forgotten, as the religions
c. City’s political influence limited beyond gained a strong following and women were pushed aside
local area for more traditional patriarchal structures. Students fi nd
d. Culturally and economically influential the important roles women played in early universal re-
throughout Mesoamerica ligions, often their own religions, a surprise—sometimes
e. Influence waned by fi ft h century fascinating, sometimes blasphemous, but always food
f. City burned by invaders for thought. You can launch a lecture from the informa-
2. The Mayans tion in the text on Vibia Perpetua, who was a leader in her
a. No great metropolis but thousands of small group of martyred Christians. Then discuss the sin-
villages gular role women played in developing Christianity, and
b. Shared language the changes in Hinduism and Buddhism. See the Rec-
c. Connected by trade ommended Reading, especially Carmody, Sharma, and
d. Kingdoms revolved around hubs and LaPorte. Utilizing the Carmody and Sharma in particu-
hinterlands lar, you can actually create a table of rights and roles that
i. City-state these early women had. Compare them with the rights
ii. Large cities and roles many present-day women no longer have in the
e. Highly stratified, with an elaborate class same religions.
structure
f. Subsistence farmers
Historical Facts About the Silk Road
g. Shared culture
h. Early writing The Silk Road played a seminal role in spreading eco-
i. Skilled in mathematics nomic, cultural, and religious ideas, fi rmly connecting the
i. Excelled at building East and West for the fi rst time. Such an important role
j. Blood sacrifice in history warrants further attention, especially with the
k. Warfare between kingdoms United States actively engaged in central Asia. Perhaps
some of your students have seen the Bamiyan statues,
VII. Conclusion which the Taliban destroyed in March 2001. Even the
A. Fall of Mediterranean Rome and Han China most elemental information is probably more than stu-
led to era when religion and common culture dents know now. The Silk Road is not one road but mul-
provided the means for holding together large tiple trails. Students will want to know how long it was,
parts of Afro-Eurasia who controlled it, what geographic area it was in, where
B. Christianity adopted by Rome coalesced with the national boundaries are now, what was traded on it,
the building of Constantinople and how safe it was. See Recommended Reading for Life
C. Weakening of Han allowed Buddhism to spread Along the Silk Road by Susan Whitfield, which has short
into China stories that you can assign.
 Chapter 8 The Rise of Universal Religions, 300–600 ce ◆ 93

Growth of World Religions Polytheism

- Shamanism
- Animism
- Brahmanism
- Judaism
- Shinto
- etc.

Hinduism Monotheism Monotheism

-Zorastrianism -Judaism

Christianity
- Essenes, believed in baptism
Monotheism
- Mithraism-mystery cults,
- Buddhism believed in baptism
- Theravada - Nestorianism
- Mahayana

Manicheism

Byzantine Roman Catholic

- Pure Land— Islam Church Church
China Buddhists -Shi’ites
preach complete faith -Sunni
to achieve salvation
- Heavenly Platform School— Protestant
China believed in Christian Churches
different levels of truth
- Chan or Zen— Asst. Other
Japan Daoist influence, Buddhist Sects
meditation was the way
to achieve salvation

Bantu People Although much is made of the “mysterious” collapse

The section on the Bantu people provide us with plenti-
ful tools to highlight the debate about written text versus
oral text. As the textbook mentions (see p. 354) “Early
Bantu history is shrouded in mystery.” Can we make as-
sumptions about why there are no oral histories recount-
ing this information? As the textbook states, some of the
Bantu sett led in the Congo Basin. Looking forward, ex-
plain briefly the events from 500 ce to today in the Congo
Basin. Did the lack of a historical record affect the Bantu’s
place in later global politics? Compare and contrast the
empire building of China and Rome, the Maya, and Persia
with the smaller clan structures in the Arabian Peninsula,
the nomadic cultures in central Asia, and the Bantu in
Africa. What lessons can students learn from these social
structures? Provide students with the materials laid out in
a new way and let them make some speculation.
Mayan Culture
Each year new scholarship brings us closer to un-
derstanding the Maya and their impressive culture.
of the Mayan civilization, less is said about the Maya’s
amazing accomplishments in architecture, mathemat-
ics, and trade development. A lecture that highlights
Mayan science and technology will offer a good balance
to later discussions about Afro-Eurasian science and
technology. Helpful texts include Michael Coe’s Maya
and Ralph Whitlock’s Everyday Life of the Maya (see
Recommended Reading).
CLASS ACTIVITIES
The Role of Syncretism
Before students read the chapter, hand out photocopies
of the chart “Growth of World Religions.” Th is flow chart
allows students to visually and intuitively begin to un-
derstand the influences that earlier religions have had on
later, universal religions. Following their reading, in a class
discussion, begin to help students trace religions’ influ-
ences. For example, the light and dark particles of energy
representing good and evil was a crucial aspect of Zoro-
astrian doctrine. The concept was so clear that it appears
94 ◆ Chapter 8 The Rise of Universal Religions, 300–600 ce
to have been coopted by early Christians as a way to ex-
plain good and evil, just not as literally as it was intended
in Zoroastrianism. However, in other areas students can
tease out multiple forms of syncretism. Understanding
present-day connections to ancient practices across mul-
tiple religions—the egg as a symbol of fertility or water
as used in baptism, blessings, purity—can intimately link
your students to the past.
Architecture and Its Reflection on Social Patterns
Th is chapter provides a series of images of public spaces
and/or architecture: Xuanzang and the Great Wild Goose
Pagoda in Chang’an (p. 323), photos, model, and plans of
Constantine’s basilica (p. 331), interior and exterior views
of Hagia Sophia (p. 338), the Great Arch of Kesra/Kisra
(p. 339), and views of the great Mayan centers such as
Palenque (p. 359). Architecture provides a tremendous
amount of information about societies, from the rigidity
of their social classes to the forms of their governmental
systems. Have your students, either in groups or together,
look at these photos and form hypotheses about how they
think the various societies might differ. What are their
emphases, their fears, their strengths and weaknesses?
Have students examine color, window structures, shapes,
and other details. (Square, linear shapes correlate to more
rigid societies, whereas curvilinear and spiral shapes cor-
relate to more democratic or freer systems.) Get them to
look for walls; look inside the buildings and outside if they
can. Were they built to inspire awe, or to be functional, or
both? What does this tell students about the culture?
Textual Records
Th is and other chapters emphasize the growing impor-
tance of text over oral narrative. The textbook points
out that by 300 ce there was a “revolution in book pro-
duction” (see p. 329) because of the invention of the
codex. As civilizations grew, so too did the significance
of knowledge based on the written word. If your stu-
dents physically manipulate the tools that were used for
writing—ink, quills or stylus, paper—they will begin to
understand how very difficult it would have been to be-
come educated and articulate, and what an honor it was
to be chosen to be educated. In addition, if you let your
students experiment with different forms of writing over
the progression of the semester, to see the developmen-
tal progression of writing styles, alphabets, and the tools
themselves, you engage them in a deeper, longer-lasting
form of learning. In this chapter you have the opportu-
nity to let students experiment with Chinese characters
and use brushes, make ink with ink tablets, and use rice
paper. These supplies are available at any art store. Two
helpful Web sites are:
www.asia-art.net/chinese_tech_brush.html
library.thinkquest.org/3614/drawing.htm
Use the image from Dunhuang (p. 343) as a way to
launch this activity. Each tool demands experimentation:
Which side of rice paper do I use and why? How much
water do I put in the tablet? Give students some symbols
to copy and let them work together to fi nish the project.
They can then discuss why they made the choices they
made, why they think Asians continue to use a form of
writing that most Westerners perceive as difficult and
time consuming, and so on. Or students can make exam-
ples of Mayan writing in clay. For the Mayan writing, you
can use any type of clay and have students try and draw
glyphs from the Mayan calendar. See:
www.omniglot.com/writing/mayan.htm
You can also do the same kind of thing with Roman
writing and/or Indian script with some form of parch-
ment and a stylus. If you plan to use writing and text as
a theme throughout the course, it might be better to pick
one area per lecture. Then discuss with students the dif-
ferences from the earlier writing styles you have observed.
Discuss how or if writing has progressed.
RECOMMENDED FILMS
■ India: The Empire of the Spirit (60 min.). This documen-
tary is from the six-part PBS Legacy series. It explores
the wide variety of spiritual influences that have shaped
India as a crossroads for trade, learning, and culture. The
narrator, Michael Wood, draws on the influence of the
ancient Greeks, Romans, and Confucianism, among oth-
ers, to show how universal religions such as Mahayana
Buddhism and later versions of Hinduism flourished
and spread through the act of pilgrimage. Ideally show
the fi rst 45 to 50 minutes of the fi lm as a strong synthesis
for the philosophical and spiritual material in chapters
8 and 9.
■ The Silk Road (Central Park Media). Th is amazing
thirty-part VHS videotape series (or three-disk DVD set)
was jointly produced by Japanese (NHK) and Chinese
(CCTV) television and fi lmed between 1980 and 1984.
Each fi lm runs approximately 50 minutes. For chapters
8 and 9 of this textbook, part 1 or part 5 would be most
suitable. Part 1, “Glories of Ancient Chang’an,” offers an
overview of China under the control of the Han and Tang
dynasties (second century bce–ninth century ce). It pro-
vides a good introduction to the Silk Road’s role in con-
necting eastern and western civilizations, introduces the
 Chapter 8 The Rise of Universal Religions, 300–600 ce ◆ 95
culture of early China, and juxtaposes historical China
with modern China well. Part 5, “In Search of the King-
dom of Lou-Lan,” takes the viewer outside of the borders
of China into Central Asia and the edge of the Taklama-
kan Desert. Here the producers offer archaeological and
scientific evidence to explain the movement of inland
saltwater lakes over two thousand years and the excava-
tion of tombs. Using the archaeological fi nds they con-
nect ancient Rome and other cultures with these Central
Asian societies. They also tie in the significance of written
texts, a theme in the textbook chapter.
■ Ben Hur (1959, 212 min.). A classic film set during the
time of Christ, this historical fiction evokes a sense of
the martyrdom that Christians such as Vibia Perpetua
and others endured during the games. It is best to show
a scene from the games, which are still considered some
of the best reenactments and fi lming of gladiator games
ever done.
■ Lost Kingdom of the Mayas (1997, 60 min.). This Na-
tional Geographic–produced documentary explores the
causes of the fall of the great Mayan kingdoms such as
Copán in Honduras, Coracal in Belize, and Dos Pilas in
Guatemala. It also shows how ongoing excavations by
archeologists and epigraphers are piecing together the
history of the Mayan people. The fi lm includes extensive
footage of actual Maya sites and a good discussion about
the fact the Mayan people did not disappear but are still
very much alive in the Highlands of Mexico, Belize, and
Guatemala.
RECOMMENDED READINGS
Jerry H. Bentley, 1993. Old World Encounters: Cross-
Cultural Contacts and Exchanges in Pre-Modern
Times.
Denise Lardner Carmody, 1979. Women and World
Religions.
Michael D. Coe, 1999. Breaking the Maya Code.
, 2005. The Maya.
Arthur Ferriell, 1988. The Fall of the Roman Empire.
Gavin D. Flood, 1996. An Introduction to Hinduism.
Deno John Geanakoplos, 1984. Byzantium: Church,
Society, and Civilization Seen through Contemporary
Eyes.
Jacques Gernet, 1995. Buddhism in Chinese Society: An
Economic history from the Fifth to the Tenth Centuries.
Jean LaPorte, 1982. The Role of Women in Early
Christianity.
G. Mokhtar, ed., 1981. General History of Afr ica Vol. 2:
Ancient Civilizations of Afr ica.
Arvind Sharma, 1987. Women in World Religions.
Bella Vivante, ed., 1999. Women’s Roles in Ancient
Civilizations: A Reference Guide.
Susan Whitfield, 2000. Life Along the Silk Road.
Ralph Whitlock, 1987. Everyday Life of the Maya.
Sally Hovey Wriggins, 1996. Xuanzang: A Buddhist
Pilgrim on the Silk Road.
WEB SITES
Emperor Constantine
www.roman-emperors.org/conniei.htm
Maya
www.civilization.ca/civil/maya/mmc04eng.html
The Silk Road
www.ess.uci.edu/~oliver/silk.html
The Sogdians and the Silk Road
www.asiasociety.org/arts/monksandmerchants/
intro.htm
Sassanid Empire
www.hp.uab.edu/image_archive/ugp/index.html
Byzantium
www.fordham.edu/halsall/byzantium/
CH A PTER 9

New Empires and Common

Cultures, 600–1000 ce

▶ Religions, Empires, and Agricultural Revolutions Organizing an Empire

▶ The Origins and Spread of Islam Confucian Administrators
A Vision, A Text China’s First Female Emperor
The Move to Medina, 622 ce Eunuchs
Conquests, 632–661 ce An Economic Revolution
An Empire of Arabs, 661–750 ce Dealing with World Religions
The Abbasid Revolution The Growth of Buddhism
Rallying Points: The Caliphate Anti-Buddhist Campaigns
Rallying Points: The Army The Fall of Tang China
Rallying Points: Islamic Law (the Sharia) and ▶ Early Korea and Japan
Technology Early Korea
Rallying Points: Gender in Early Islam Early Japan
The Blossoming of Abbasid Culture The Yamato Emperor and the Origins of Japanese
Islam in a Wider World Sacred Identity
Spain Prince Shotoku and the Taika Political Reforms
A Central Asian Galaxy of Talent Mahayana Buddhism and the Sanctity of the
Islam in Sub-Saharan Africa Japanese State
Opposition within Islam, Shiism, and the Rise of the ▶ The Christian West, 600–1000 ce
Fatimids Charlemagne’s Fledgling Empire
▶ The Tang State Christianity for the North
Chinese Territorial Expansion under the Sui and The Age of the Vikings, 800–1000 ce
Tang Dynasties The Survival of the Christian Empire of the East
The Army and Imperial Campaigning

LECTURE OUTLINE
Th is chapter opens with the marvels of Baghdad and
the spectacular growth of Islam. It shows how religion
and empire intertwined to create the foundations of the
world’s modern social geography. Unlike in earlier em-
pires, Islam preceded empire. The Islamic empires sought
the world’s knowledge and protected the great libraries in
such places as Cairo, Alexandria, and Baghdad. Islamic
internal confl ict is also addressed. The chapter continues
with the rise and fall of the Tang dynasty. The Tang are
juxtaposed to the rising Islamic empires. The Tang dy-
nasty is remarkably secular in their approach relative to
the Islamic empires. The chapter also examines Korea
and Japan. Meanwhile, the Christian West is pushing out
toward the East. But internal confl ict in Europe contin-
ues to slow this growth and expansion, as does the di-
vide between Northern European and Eastern Orthodox
Christianity.
I. Religions, Empires, and Agricultural Revolutions
A. Islam’s origins show that intersections of
religion and empire were not the same
1. Islam fl ips the pattern set by Christianity
and Buddhism
a. Empire was the main vehicle for the
growth of both Christianity and
Buddhism

96
 Chapter 9 New Empires and Common Cultures, 600–1000 ce ◆ 97
2. In contrast, Islam was a religion that
created empires
a. For Muslims the reason for establishing
an imperial system was to secure,
defend, and spread their religion
b. Islam created its empire from scratch
B. The Tang dynasty in China withstood the
universalizing claims of religion
1. China contrasts with Afro-Eurasian
empires because it maintained its
commitments to past traditions and
customs
C. The Muslim world experiences an agricultural
revolution
1. Islam may have been crucial in that
transformation
2. Farmers in the early Muslim empire
became agricultural innovators of crops
and farming techniques
3. Improved agriculture led to rapid
population growth, rising standard of
living, and urbanization
D. India replaced Mesopotamia as the source of a
wide range of new crops
1. Most cultigens in Afro-Eurasia had origins
in Southeast Asia via India
2. Southeast Asia provided rice, taro,
citrus, and most likely coconut palm
trees, sugarcane, bananas, plantains, and
mangoes
3. Crops spread quickly and easily to East
Asia and became Chinese diet staples
4. Movement westward was not rapid
5. Only after the Muslim conquest of Sindh
did western territories experience the crop
revolution
6. Merchants, scholars, and landed gentry
exploited the new agriculture of India
7. Agricultural crops were diff used from
India to Spain
a. Increased agricultural output
b. Employed a more productive
workforce
c. Could feed larger urban communities
d. Offered consumers more diversified,
healthier diet
8. Population growth accelerated until
the Black Death interrupted it in the
fourteenth century
E. Agricultural transformation also swept through
East Asia
1. Rice was critical
2. By eleventh century, Chinese farmers most
proficient wet-field rice cultivators
3. Champa rice most widely grown
a. Introduced from central Vietnam
b. Drought resistant
c. Low gluten content
d. Ripened faster than older strains
F. New lands were opened up due to the
agricultural changes
1. Helped feed expanding population in
south
2. Migration south possible because of new
agricultural technologies
a. Irrigation technique
b. Expansion of the road and water
transportation system
3. Created an expanding and moving rice
frontier
G. Europe was the exception to these agricultural
breakthroughs
1. Most new crops were not suited to Europe’s
colder climate
2. Northern Europe in early stages of clearing
forests
3. Europeans used tools such as axe and steel
plow, and harnessed horse
4. Agrarian innovation lagged behind in
Europe
H. Islam and the agricultural changes reinforced
each other and led to major social, political, and
economic changes
1. Agrarian revolution
2. The resurgence of empires in the wake of
Roman and Han collapse
3. Appearance of Islam
I. Islam united the territories between two
other universal religions—Christianity and
Buddhism.
J. Islam laid the basis for a new set of divisions
that drove worlds apart as internal and external
confl icts arose
II. The Origins and Spread of Islam
A. A Vision, a Text
1. Muhammad born in Mecca around 570 ce
2. In the year 610, Muhammad had a vision
that commanded him to recite phrases that
became Sura 96 of the Quran
3. He enjoined his followers to practice
certain things:
a. Act righteously
b. Set aside false deities
98 ◆ Chapter 9 New Empires and Common Cultures, 600–1000 ce
c. Submit to one and only true God
d. Care for the less fortunate
4. Muhammad’s most insistent message was
the oneness of God
5. The Quran was compiled into a single
authoritative version sometime around
650
6. Arab historians believe the Quran to be the
very word of God
a. Quran text meant to inscribe the tenets
of the faith
b. United a people
c. Conveyed a set of stable messages to
other cultures
d. Expanded frontiers of the new faith
7. Muhammad saw himself as the last of the
long line of prophets in the tradition of
Hebrew prophets and Jesus, the Christian
messiah
B. The move to Medina, 622
1. Muslims date the beginning of Muslim
calendar to 622
2. Muhammad escaped persecution that year
and moved to Medina
3. Medina became the birthplace of a new
faith—Islam, which means “submission”
a. A new collectivity called Muslims
(those who submit)
4. Adherents broadcast their new faith and
their new mission
a. First to Mecca
b. Second to inhabitants of Arabia
c. To the larger world of Asia, Africa, and
Europe
C. Conquests, 632–661
1. Mohammad died in 632
2. The prophet’s inspiration and early leaders
kept the faith going
a. Four successors known as the “rightly
guided caliphs”
b. Most important of the caliphs was
Muhammad’s nephew Ali
3. Successors decided to implement the
prophet’s plan to send Arab-Muslim armies
into Syria and Iraq
4. Muslim soldiers embarked on military
conquest that they referred to as jihad
a. Jihad meant struggle, either military or
personal daily struggles
5. Within 15 years Muslim armies controlled
Syria, Egypt, and Iraq
D. An empire of Arabs, 661–750
1. When Ali was killed in 661, new men
known as Umayyads took over
2. Moved the core of Islam away from
Arabia
a. Introduced principle of hereditary
monarchy (caliphate) to resolve
leadership disputes
3. Ruled from Damascus until overthrown by
Abbasids in 750
E. Five Pillars of Islam in place as core practices
and beliefs
1. Belief in one God and the role of
Muhammad as Messenger
2. Ritual prayer
3. Fasting
4. Pilgrimage
5. Alms to the poor
F. In early days, conversion to Islam was simple
1. New faith did not call on adherents to
abandon entire former way of life
2. Major conversion incentive was a reduced
jizra tax
3. Islam did make many demands on its
believers
G. Political limits to how much Islam could
integrate others’ beliefs
1. Did not allow non-Arabic speakers to
convert to Islam as a way to rise to high
political office
a. Overthrow of the Umayyad rule ended
that prohibition
b. By middle of eighth century, probably
fewer than 10 percent of people in the
Islamic empire were Muslim
H. The Abbasid revolution
1. Umayyad dynasty spread Islam beyond
Arabia and integrated more people,
resulting in resistance to authority
a. In Kurasan, Muslims resented
discrimination at the hands of Arab
peoples
b. Coalition emerged led by the Abbasi
family, which claimed descent from the
Prophet’s family
2. The coalition amassed a military force and
defeated Umayyad rule in 750
a. The Abbasid victory shifted the center
of the caliphate to Iraq
3. Conversion to Islam rested on proselytizers
and appeal of the new faith to converts
a. Abbasids more aggressively opened
Islam to Persian people
 Chapter 9 New Empires and Common Cultures, 600–1000 ce ◆ 99
b. Encouraged Islamic world to embrace
Hellenistic ways
c. Islam in the Abbasid period was truly
cosmopolitan and merged various
people’s contribution into a rich, unified
culture
I. Rallying points: The caliphate
1. Abbasid rulers retained the caliphate;
caliph was a political and spiritual head of
the Islamic community
2. Muhammad’s successors did not inherit
his prophetic powers nor did they exercise
authority over religious doctrines
a. Religious authority reserved to special
scholars called ulama
3. Abbasid style more centralized and based
on absolute authority modeled on the
Byzantine rulers
4. As the empire grew, harder to maintain
control; regional governors and
countercaliphates took control in some
areas
a. Multicentered Islamic world
b. Political center shifted, but religious
center remained in Mecca
J. Rallying points: The army
1. Integration relied on the use of force
2. Non-Arab groups formed the military core
as with the Romans
a. Brought new populations into the
empire
b. Gained political authority
3. Turkish elements entered the Islamic
empire
4. As Islam spread it became more
multicultural while building a common
culture
K. Rallying points: Islamic law (the Sharia) and
technology
1. During the Abbasid period Islamic law
(Sharia) took shape
a. Sharia law covers all aspects of practical
as well as spiritual life
i. Legal principles for marriage
contracts, trade regulations
ii. Religious prayer, pilgrimage rites,
and ritual fasting
2. Needed to interpret legal questions that the
Quran did not address
a. Most influential legal scholar was eighth
century Iraqi, al-Shafi’I
i. Wanted to make law entirely
Islamic, based on the Prophet’s
sayings as written in the hadith
3. Early legal scholars placed the ulama at the
heart of Islam
a. Ulama became lawmakers, not princes
and kings
4. Emergence of the ulama opened sharp
divisions within Islam between secular and
religious spheres
L. Rallying points: Gender in early Islam
1. Pre-Islamic Arabia was one of the last
regions that had not experienced the
triumph of patriarchy
a. Men still married into women’s tribes
and moved to wives’ locations in tribal
communities
b. Women engaged in a variety of
occupations and could amass
wealth
c. Muhammad’s evolving relations to
women reflect larger trends in the
influence of patriarchy that made its
way to Arabia
i. As a young man he married an
older woman and took no other
wives until she died
ii. In crucial batt les between Mecca
and Medina, Muhammad allowed
women to fight at his side
iii. Later in life, he took younger wives
and insisted on veiling
2. By the time Islam spread to Southwest
Asia and North Africa, strict gender rules
existed
a. Women were deeply subordinated to
men
i. Men could divorce freely; women
could not
ii. Men could take four wives and
concubines; women could not
practice polygamy
iii. Elite women were veiled and lived
secluded from male society
3. Quran did offer women some protections
a. Men required to treat each wife with
respect
b. Women could inherit property,
although only half of what a man
received
c. Infanticide was prohibited
100 ◆ Chapter 9 New Empires and Common Cultures, 600–1000 ce
d. Marriage dowries paid directly to the
bride, not to her guardian
4. Legal system reinforced status of men over
women but gave magistrates powers to
oversee the defi nition of male honor and
proper behavior
M. The blossoming of Abbasid Culture
1. Arts flourished and left imprint on society
a. Arabic superseded Greek and became
the language of the educated classes
b. Arabic scholarship made many
important contributions to the world
of learning by preserving Greek and
Roman thought
c. Extensive borrowing exemplified the
most substantial effort by one culture to
assimilate learning of other peoples
d. To house the scholarly works, Abbasids
founded massive and magnificent
libraries
N. Islam in a wider world
1. As Islam spread it became more
decentralized
2. Proselytizing Islam brought more peoples
under the teachings of the Quran
a. Growing diversity proved problematic;
no single political structure could hold
the widespread provinces
i. Secular power in Islam was deeply
divided and remains so today
3. Spain
a. One Muslim state that became a rival
to the Abbasids was headed by Abd al
Rahmann III, al-Nasir
i. Iberia’s Muslim kingdom arose
during the Abbasid revolution of
750 when the defeated Umayyad
family fled to Spain
ii. Facilitated amicable relations with
Muslims, Christians, and Jews
iii. Expanded and beautified the
capital at Córdoba
b. Competition between rival rulers
spurred creativity in the arts
i. Wanted to build cities and
mosques that rivaled those in the
old Islamic cities such as Baghdad
O. A Central Asian galaxy of talent
1. At eastern end of the Islamic world, near
the Oxus River in Central Asia, a cultural
flowering took place
a. Barmaki family from Balkh turned from
Buddhism to Islam
2. Others from Central Asia made notable
contributions to science and mathematics
a. Al-Khwarizmi modified Indian digits
into Arabic numerals, wrote the fi rst
book of algebra
P. Islam in sub-Saharan Africa
1. Islam crossed the Sahara and entered
Africa carried by traders and scholars, not
soldiers
a. Movement depended on camels that
could make the long-distance trek
2. Trade joined West and North Africa and
generated wealth, which created the great
centralized political kingdoms in West
Africa
a. Ghana was the terminus of the North
African trading routes
3. Seafaring Muslim traders carried Islam
into East Africa, as Islam became a
dominant mercantile force in the Indian
Ocean
a. Early East African trade communities
were a mixture of African and Arab
populations
i. Exported ivory and possibly
slaves
ii. African Bantu language absorbed
Arab words and eventually became
Swahili
Q. Opposition within Islam, Shiism, and the rise
of the Fatimids
1. Islam’s fast rise generated internal tensions
from the beginning
a. Powerful religious movement created
shared reverence for Quran and single
god but not much else
b. Divisions were apparent from the
Prophet’s time and grew deeper as Islam
expanded to other areas
c. When the Prophet died, the fissure
became wider, especially over secession
issues
2. Early opposition originated with the
Kharijites from Arabia
a. Kharijites believed the successor
should only be someone who resembled
Muhammad himself.
b. Th is belief found appeal among those
people who felt deprived of power
 Chapter 9 New Empires and Common Cultures, 600–1000 ce ◆ 101
i. Appealed to the highland Berber
people of North Africa and
inhabitants of lower Iraq
3. Shiism became Islam’s most powerful
dissident force and created a permanent
divide within Islam
a. Appealed to groups whom the
Umayyads and Abbasids had excluded
from power
b. Did not seize power until the tenth
century
c. In 909, a Shiite religious and military
leader, Abu Abdallah, overthrew the
Sunni ruler in North Africa
i. The Fatimid regime began, which
became a rival regime to the
Abbasid caliphs of Baghdad
ii. Rival capital called al-Qahira
(Cairo)
d. Fatimid regime remained in power until
the end of the twelft h century
III. The Tang State
A. The rise of the Sui (581–618) and Tang
(618–907) Empires in China paralleled Islam’s
meteoric rise out of Arabia
1. Again Afro-Eurasia had two centers of
power: Islam and China
2. Not the same as Rome and Han China
because now the two worlds were more
interconnected with trade, conversion, and
regular political contacts
3. Shared common borders
B. China’s state was formed differently than in
Afro-Eurasia, where religion dominated
1. China’s religious history and political
histories were separate and not parallel
2. Underneath a single dynastic and imperial
culture lay a plurality of religions and
sects
3. China a model for balancing forces of
integration and diversity
C. Tang promoted a cosmopolitan culture that
absorbed many new elements arising from afar
1. Ideas came from the West, including India,
Bactria, and Constantinople
2. Ideas also came from East
a. Early societies and states in Korea and
Japan emerged in the shadow of China
i. Daoism and Buddhism spread to
Korea and Japan
b. Chinese statecraft, based on Confucian
classics, was seen as best model by
Korean and Japanese scholars
c. Despite the rise of China’s empire, its
impact on Korea and Japan was limited
i. Each maintained cultural
autonomy
D. Chinese territorial expansion under the Sui and
Tang dynasties
1. New set of rulers (Sui and Tang) step in to
fi ll void left by Han
2. Argued for big imperial system and found
broad support
3. Both dynasties expanded boundaries
4. Hero of the imperial day was Uang Jian
a. Served as an official of the militarily
strong Northern Zhou dynasty
5. Father and son emperors expanded the
state into Korea, Vietnam, Manchuria,
Tibet, and Central Asia
a. Expansion efforts were fi nancially
and militarily disastrous and fatally
weakened the dynasty
b. Change in course of Yellow River
caused flooding, which led to popular
revolts
c. General Li Yuan marched on Chang’an
and took the throne.
6. In 618, Li Yuan established the Tang
dynasty
a. Expanded bureaucracy and tightened
control over individual governors
E. The army and imperial campaigning
1. An expanding Tang state required a large,
professionally trained army
a. Aristocratic cavalry and peasant soldiers
b. In the North, army relied on pastoral
nomadic soldiers
i. Uighurs, Turkish-speaking steppe
peoples
ii. Most deadly forces in the Tang
Empire
c. Military forged the fi rst westward
expansion into parts of Tibet
2. Moved to conquer east and central Asia
a. At the height of the empire, Tang armies
controlled more than 4 million square
miles and 80 million people.
b. Surpassed the peak of Han Empire and
greater than Islamic rule in the eighth
and ninth centuries
102 ◆ Chapter 9 New Empires and Common Cultures, 600–1000 ce
3. China in 750 ce was the most powerful,
most advanced, and best administered
empire in the world
4. The rivalry for Afro-Eurasian supremacy
brought the worlds together, but not
peaceably
a. Muslim forces drove the Tang from
Turkestan in 751 ce
b. Tang forced to retreat from Central Asia
and mainland Southeast Asia
c. Several factors eventually led to the
downfall of the Tang
i. Misrule
ii. Court intrigues
iii. Economic exploitation
iv. Popular rebellions
d. Northern invaders brought an end to
the dynasty in 907 ce
5. With the downfall of the Tang, China
fragmented into five northern dynasties
and ten southern kingdoms
F. Organizing an empire
1. Emulated the Han but introduced new
institutions
2. Tang had to deal with the arrival of global
religions
G. Confucian administrators
1. Day-to-day operations relied on the civil
service
2. Tang had to devise other formulas
for integrating their remote territories
and diverse ethnic and linguistic
groups
a. Created a strong and unifying political
culture based on Confucian teachings
rather than relying on a world religion
to anchor empire
b. Knowledge of the details of Confucius
and intricacies of Chinese language
required for ruling classes
c. Skills were powerful in forging cultural
and political solidarity
3. Common philosophy and written language
served as surrogates for the universalistic
religions
4. Tang state increased power through the
world’s fi rst written civil service exam
system
a. New civil service officials were selected
from the pool of those who passed the
examination
5. Tang used common texts, codes, and tests
to unify the governing classes
H. China’s fi rst female emperor
1. Women played influential roles in the court
2. Most played private roles but some had
public roles
a. Empress Wu dominated Tang court in
late seventh and early eighth centuries
b. First and only female ruler in Chinese
history
i. Expanded military
ii. Recruited her administrators from
the civil service exam candidates to
oppose her court enemies
iii. Challenging beliefs that
subordinated women, she elevated
women’s position
3. Ordered scholars to write biographies of
famous women
4. Empowered mother’s clan by giving
relatives high political posts
5. Tried to establish a new Zhou
dynasty
a. Her reign was benign and competent
i. Chinese Buddhism achieved
its highest officially sponsored
development in this period
b. Empress Wu enforced a new aristocracy
of academic ability
i. Th rough civil service exams
southern commoners took more
prominent roles
ii. Exam system also indirectly aided
the poor because they saw value of
education as a way to rise into the
ruling elite
I. Eunuchs
1. Abbasid and Tang rulers both defended
themselves by surrounding themselves
with loyal and well-compensated men
a. Caliphs in Baghdad chose young
male slaves (usually Turks); castrated
males known as eunuchs guarded the
harem
b. Tang emperors relied on castrated males
from lower classes
2. Eunuchs in China became fully integrated
into the empire’s institution and wielded a
great deal of power
a. In 820, the chief eunuch controlled the
military
 Chapter 9 New Empires and Common Cultures, 600–1000 ce ◆ 103
b. Eunuch bureaucracy mediated
between the emperor and provincial
governments
c. By late in the Tang dynasty, eunuchs
held too much political power and
became an unruly group that was
partially responsible for the downfall of
the Tang dynasty
J. An economic revolution
1. Political stability fueled remarkable
economic achievement
a. The Sui had triggered economic
progress by building canals throughout
the country; Tang continued the effort
b. New waterways aided communication
and transport
i. Rice was transported from the
south to the north
ii. Areas south of the Yangzi became
the demographic center of the
Chinese empire
c. Chinese merchants took advantage of
the Silk Road to trade with India and
the Islamic world
d. With rebellions jeopardizing overland
trade routes, the “silk road by sea”
blossomed
e. The Tang capital of Chang’an became
the richest and most populous city in
the world
i. Textiles, paper, and ceramics all
became desired commodities in
the West
K. Dealing with world religions
1. The Confucian ideology was secular
2. Tang emperors tolerated a remarkable
amount of religious diversity
L. Mahayana Buddhism
1. Buddhism thrived under Tang rule
2. When Buddhism was accepted as one of
the “three ways” of learning with Daoism
and Confucianism, the Tang embraced and
supported it
a. Huge monasteries were built with
imperial patronage
M. Anti-Buddhist campaigns
1. Tang Empire contained nearly 50,000
monasteries and hundreds of thousands of
Buddhist monks and nuns
a. Success of Buddhism threatened
Confucian and Daoist leaders, who
began to attack Buddhism
b. Secular rulers grew more and more
concerned that religious loyalties would
undermine political ones
i. Accused Buddhists of hurting
kinship values and cardinal family
relations
ii. Claimed clergy were conspiring to
destroy the state, the family, and
the individual body
a. “Th ree Destructions” of
Buddhism
c. Persecution of monastic orders began in
the 840s
i. Emperor Wuzong closed more
than 4,600 monasteries and
destroyed 40,000 temples and
shrines
2. Tang government brought the Buddhist
monastic communities under its control,
unlike in Latin Europe
i. Confucianism and Daoism part of
Chinese bureaucracy; Buddhism
lacked that power base
ii. Buddhism became vulnerable
when attacked by Emperor
Wuzong
3. By emphasizing classical scholarship,
ancient literature, and Confucian morality,
Tang dynasty revered early Buddhist
success
4. Overcoming the universalistic thrust of
Buddhism resulted in persistent religious
pluralism
5. Tang China was the one place that
remained committed to a secular common
culture
N. The fall of Tang China
1. China’s deteriorating economy led to
peasant uprisings
a. Some risings led by failed exam
candidates
2. Revolts brought down dynasty and led to
ten regional states
IV. Early Korea and Japan
A. Early Korea
1. Chinese culture influenced Korea as early
as third century bce
2. During fourth century three independent
states emerged on the Korean peninsula
a. Koguryo (north)
b. Paekche (southwest)
104 ◆ Chapter 9 New Empires and Common Cultures, 600–1000 ce
c. Silla (Southeast)
3. Silla’s unification of Korea after 670
enabled the Koreans to establish a unified
government modeled on the Tang Chinese
imperial state
4. With Tang decline, Silla also began to
fragment
5. Koryo reunited Korea and founded the
Koryo dynasty
a. Enacted an unprecedented bureaucratic
system
i. Used Tang dynasty-style civil
service exam to choose capable
officials
6. Korea, like Tang China, was harassed
continuously by northern tribes such as the
Khitan people
B. Early Japan
1. Warlike group from Korea imposed
military and social power on southern
Japan
a. Known as the Tomb Culture
b. Unified Japan
c. Brought with them a belief in the power
of female shamans
i. Shaman-queen, Himiko, sent
envoy to China after Han fell
2. The complex aristocratic society under
Tomb Culture paved way for Yamato
Japanese state
a. Rise of Japanese state coincided with
the Th ree Kingdoms era in Korea
C. The Yamato emperor and the origins of
Japanese sacred identity
1. Ancestor worship was native to Japan and
was at center of emerging belief system
2. Originally Korean, the Soga kinship group
became Japan’s leading family
a. The Soga was sympathetic to the
Buddhist religion
3. Imperial line justified itself by embracing a
tradition that sacralized Japanese state and
society
a. Adopted both Buddhism and Shintoism
4. Emperor presented as the living
embodiment of Japan and its people
a. Divine characteristics placed Yamato
aristocratic families on top
D. Prince Shotoku and the Taika political reforms
1. Sogo looked to Japanese Prince Shotoku as
the creator of all that was innovative in the
Yamato state
a. Scribes claimed Shotoku, not Korean
migrants, had introduced Buddhism
b. Japanese Buddhists saw Prince Shotoku
as the founder of Buddhism in Japan as
Christians looked to Constantine in the
Roman Empire
2. Prince Shotoku sent embassaries to China
during the Sui dynasty
a. Presented information about how to
incorporate Chinese reforms in
Japan
b. Looked to Tang as a model for statecraft
3. Japanese rulers tolerated and even
promoted a mosaic of religions
4. Shotoku promoted Buddhism and
Confucianism
a. Erected several Buddhist temples
i. Horyuji Temple is the oldest
surviving wooden structure in the
world
5. In 645, Nakatomi family came to power
after eliminating the Soga
a. Used new power to enact the Taika
reform edicts based on Confucian
principles of government
6. The Yamato court adopted the Chinese
notion of the Mandate of Heaven
a. Refused to enact the Chinese civil
service exam system
E. Mahayana Buddhism and the sanctity of the
Japanese state
1. Religious influences migrated to Japan;
added to spiritual pluralism while uplift ing
its rulers
2. Nakatomi promoted Buddhism as the state
religion of Japan
a. Did not reject the imperial family’s
support of native Shinto traditions
b. Association with Buddhism gave the
Japanese extra status
3. Japanese emperor received more explicit
worship as the sacred ruler
a. Japanese emperor was a supreme
kami—a divine force in his own right
b. Shinto and Buddhism became
symbiotically intertwined in the
political and religious life of the
Japanese
V. The Christian West, 600–1000 ce
A. Charlemagne’s fledgling empire
1. Ruled from 768–814
 Chapter 9 New Empires and Common Cultures, 600–1000 ce ◆ 105
2. By 802 Charlemagne controlled much of
western Europe
a. Empire had fewer than 15 million
people
b. His armies were rarely larger than 5,000
c. Had a rudimentary tax system
3. His palace primitive in comparison with
some of those of Islamic caliphs
4. Representatives of the warrior class
that had come to dominate post-Roman
western Europe
5. Franks engaged in trade, but trade was
based on war
a. Frankish empire was fi nanced by the
massive sale of prisoners of war
i. Main victims were Slavic-speaking
peoples from eastern Europe
6. In this inhospitable zone, Christianity put
down roots
B. Christianity for the north
1. Charlemagne’s empire was in the
borderlands
2. Based on expansion and Christian
proselytizing
3. Christianity emerged in the new
borderlands world much different from its
Mediterranean origins
4. Christianity bridged the gap between the
Mediterranean world and the new non-
Roman world of the north
a. Christians felt that Christ was the
Messiah and that their faith was the
only true universal religion
b. Only 25 percent of Christians resided
in western Europe; most lived in
Byzantine Empire
c. Bishop Augustine of Hippo had put
forth the outlines of these beliefs in
410 ce
i. City of God
ii. Catholic church important for
bringing people to religion
d. Several things led to Christianity’s
establishment in northern Europe
i. Christianity’s arrival in northern
Europe began a cultural revolution
ii. Latin became a sacred language;
books became vehicles of the holy
iii. Bibles produced by monks and
nuns
e. Monasticism in western Europe
i. Sent out missionaries
ii. Believed that those with least in
common with those with “normal
lives” were best able to mediate
between the believer and God
f. By 800, few regions of northern Europe
were without great monasteries
5. The papacy rose because the Catholic
church and western Europe united to
support a single and exclusive symbolic
center
6. Popes owed position to two factors
a. The Arab conquest, which had removed
competition
b. Desire for a new, more vibrant religion
C. The age of the Vikings, 800–1000
1. The Vikings exploited the weaknesses of
Charlemagne’s regime
2. Viking motive simple: “to be on the
warpath”
3. Successful because of technological
advantage: their ships
a. Light and agile
b. Shallow draft
c. Rowed up the rivers of northern Europe
d. Could also travel on open waters,
including the Atlantic
4. Plundered monasteries along rivers and in
Ireland and Britain
5. Norwegian adventurers colonized Iceland
and Greenland
6. Reached New World in 982
a. Carried out trade with Native
Americans
7. Viking efforts in eastern Europe had lasting
effects
8. Created new trade routes through
Baltics—“The Highway of Slaves”
D. The survival of the Christian empire of the east
1. Several attempts were made to capture
the eastern Christian empire in
Constantinople
a. Greek fi re very effective against Muslim
fleets
2. Outlasting a series of military emergencies
bolstered the morale of east Roman
Christianity and led to its unexpected
flowering in distant lands
a. Greek Christianity gained a spiritual
empire that offset losses to the east
Roman empire in Southwest Asia
106 ◆ Chapter 9 New Empires and Common Cultures, 600–1000 ce
3. By 1000, two Christianities existed
a. Confident “borderland” Catholicism of
Western Europe
b. An ancient Greek Orthodoxy
c. Neither side really admired the other
4. Like Islam, the Christian world was
divided, though in two distinct regions:
western and eastern Christianity
a. Differences not doctrinal, as with Shia
and Sunni Islam
b. Christian differences were in heritage,
customs, and levels of perceived
“civilization”
5. Each dealt with the expansion of the
Muslim world differently
6. Christianity expanded its geographic reach
to new frontiers
a. Growing religious homogeneity and
common faith increased in western
Christendom
VI. Conclusion
A. Eurasian and North African societies
witnessed a radical reordering of their
political and cultural maps that encouraged
migration
B. Commodities, technological innovations, ideas,
travelers, merchants, adventurers, and scholars
moved rapidly over great distances from one
region to another
C. Despite all the circulation of people and ideas,
a new set of political and cultural boundaries
emerged that divided the landmass as never
before
1. Islam was the most important of the new
universalistic religions
2. Challenged and slowed the spread of
universalistic religion, Christianity
D. The Sui and Tang empires revived
Confucianism as a basis for a new imperial
order
E. Many ways to cope with the emergence and
spread of universalizing religions across Eurasia
and Africa
1. A common affi liation with empire
2. Sometimes faith followed empire, as in east
Asia
3. Sometimes empire followed faith, as was
the case with Islam
F. Each universal religion also saw internal debate
over basic principles
LECTURE IDEAS
Vikings in Iceland
A lecture on the discovery and sett ling of Iceland would be
useful for a number of reasons. Given the dearth of textual
sources about the Vikings, litt le is known regarding their
practices in the preconversion period. Iceland provides
historians with as pure a Viking culture as is possible. In
addition, we fi nd that the Icelandic Vikings developed a
strong democratic social structure with a parliamentarian
government. Although gender equality did not exist, soci-
ety was less rigid and stratified than in other parts of Eu-
rope. These are just a few details that can be brought out
in a lecture on Icelandic Vikings as a way to move beyond
the stereotype of them as merely faceless barbarians. See:
www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/
www.valhs.org/history/text/history.htm
The Year 1000
Formulate a lecture around the year 1000. Help your stu-
dents understand what exactly is the meaning of a date
and the human construction involved in dates. Following
the theme of the text, Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, you
can show your students how many people were preparing
for the end of the world in Europe on December 31, 999—
much as some people did on December 31, 1999. Then
discuss how people kept time around the world. The Mus-
lims, the Jews, the Chinese, and the Indians, to name just
a few, all counted time differently from European Chris-
tians. For them December 31, 1999, was not an apocalyp-
tic day. Discuss the various baselines and how each people
group arrived at its reckoning of time. How successful
were they? Was the European calendar method accurate
at this point? How had it evolved? After you have dis-
cussed the historical implications of timekeeping, discuss
what the world was like at that point in time. Much was
changing, and soon thereafter major hegemonic changes
would shift global power to Europe instead of Asia, where
it had been for so long. For the fi rst time all the civiliza-
tions were becoming aware of each other, with the Viking
discovery of the Americas. The focus of power was begin-
ning to shift from rural to urban, and slowly moved from
religious centers to national centers. Th is is a good time
to review where the world has been and the implications
of the global changes as it moves forward. The following
texts are useful for creating this lecture: E. G. Richards,
Mapping Time; John Man’s Atlas of the Year; Robert Lacey
and Danny Danziger’s The Year 1000; and James Reston,
Jr.’s The Last Apocalypse (see Recommended Reading).
 Chapter 9 New Empires and Common Cultures, 600–1000 ce ◆ 107
The Period of the Four Caliphs
After the death of Muhammad, tension regarding the suc-
cession continued to mount. No amount of debate seemed
to bring any resolution. A lecture recounting the period of
the four caliphs up through the Batt le of Karbala, with the
death of Ali and the fi nal split among Muslims, is crucial
in today’s complex political world. Include in your lecture
some of the more clearly defi ned differences between the
Shia and Sunni: how leadership is established, what the
leaders are called, how decisions are made, the texts that
are considered holy, what regions ascribe to which groups,
major theological differences, percentage today that are
Sunni or Shia and where, and so on. See:
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.
php?storyId=7332087
hnn.us/articles/934.html
The Rise of Byzantium
A lecture that clarifies the shift in capitals and seats of
power from Rome to Constantinople and the creation of
eastern and western Rome would help to link events be-
tween empires. In addition, you could trace the collapse
of western Rome and the rise of Byzantium while retain-
ing the themes of nomadic migrations and the rise of uni-
versal religions. In the latter part of the lecture, emphasize
the interconnectedness of the Eastern Orthodox church
and Byzantium, which both supported highly centralized
systems, and the shift away from a dependence on the
military to a dependence on a merchant class. For more
details see Timothy Gregory’s, History of Byzantium and
the Web sites listed at the end of this chapter.
Ireland: A Seat of Medieval Western Learning
In many historians’ minds Ireland and the libraries of the
Muslim world were the main repositories of learning dur-
ing the period of European collapse. As Rome was over-
run by nomadic tribes, early Irish monks traveled back
and forth to the Holy Land. As they went, they collected
Greek and Roman texts. They continued to copy manu-
scripts and communicate with the Christian pilgrims in
the Holy Land. Two missionaries succeeded Saint Patrick
and continued the Christian movement in Ireland, carry-
ing it on to Scotland, England, Gaul, and Italy: Columban
(530?–615) and Columba (531–597). As the Celtic Chris-
tian movement grew, it produced more and more teach-
ers, pilgrims and scholars, keeping Ireland at the center
of European classical scholarship until the arrival of the
Vikings in 875. During this time almost 150 monasteries
were founded in Ireland, with scholars and monks arriv-
ing from across the Christian world. For further details
see:
american_almanac.tripod.com/monks.htm
See also Charles Thomas, Celtic Britain and Brendan
Lehane, Early Celtic Christianity (see Recommended
Reading).
CLASS ACTIVITIES
Japanese Court Life in the Heian Period
In Heian Japan ritual was very important. All aspects of
court life were dictated, down to the colors one could wear
and the glances one could make or how (and to whom) to
make them. To help students understand how regimented
life was, especially for women, who were pawns in politi-
cal intrigue, provide them with an excerpt from either The
Diary of Lady Murasaki (1996) by Lady Murasaki, trans-
lated by Richard Bowring; The Tale of Genji by Murasaki
Shikibu, translated by Royall Tyler (2003); or the his-
torical novel, The Tale of Murasaki, by Liza Dalby (2000).
Have them read the excerpt before coming to class. On
the day of class provide them with a brief fact sheet and
color images taken from Liza Dalby’s Web site:
www.lizadalby.com/tale%20of%20murasaki.html
for her historical novel, The Tale of Murasaki. Follow the
links to “subjects” and “fashion—the layered look.” Al-
though both links are useful, the most useful will be the
fi rst page and then the “favorite combinations” link. Th is
lets students see the kimonos and the careful layering of
gowns and colors. (If you have the opportunity, bring-
ing colored sheets of paper or silk fabric remnants to class
would be ideal). Forbidden colors (kinjiki) were various
shades of red and purple. Certain patterned weaves of silk
could be worn only by women of the third rank and higher.
The fact sheet can explain which women were allowed to
wear which colors and patterns, how long it took to dress,
how much the clothing weighed, how often women varied
their wardrobes, makeup and hair, and other details. Then
have your students speculate on why it was so impor-
tant for royal women to dress elaborately. One interest-
ing trend during this period was the blackening of teeth,
using oxidized iron fi lings mixed with something acidic.
Th is elaborate ritual was not just about looks. To make a
mistake and come to court dressed improperly or to be-
have improperly meant certain shame, loss of fortune,
imprisonment, or sometimes even death for the woman
and some or all family members. Th is was serious busi-
ness. Many men made it in politics by climbing across the
108 ◆ Chapter 9 New Empires and Common Cultures, 600–1000 ce
backs of favored court women. Ask students to speculate
about women’s roles in court without giving them a lot of
information other than the reading. Men too had to take
great care with their appearance, but not to the extent that
women did. Why was this? Once students have had the
opportunity to look at the materials and discuss women’s
roles, the class as a whole can discuss in more detail life
in the Heian court for men and women. Th is discussion
shows students the painstaking detail involved in all as-
pects of Heian courtlife, from the writing of haiku and
tanka to the infrastructure of the capital of Heian, built to
mirror the capital of China.
Leisure Time in Viking Society
Games are an inseparable part of every culture. There are
a variety of ways that you can create an activity around
two games that became important in Europe. These
games were played regularly, in great measure because
they recreated so successfully the social and military
structures of the societies in which they were played.
In Viking culture, the game hnefatafl must rank as one
of history’s great board games (see www.mnh.si.edu/
vikings/learning/boardgame.html). At fi rst glance it
seems simple, but don’t be deceived. It can become very
complex and beautifully represents the class structures
in Viking society as well as many of their fighting tactics.
Provide your students with one or more of these games
to play—it doesn’t take long—and then let them dis-
cuss what they might be able to deduce from the game.
Ask them leading questions, such as: how many differ-
ent kinds of pieces are there? What strategies could you
use to win? With the game set up in this particular way,
and winning accomplished when the king arrives at one
of four corners, what does this tell you about Viking
war strategies? Th is opens the door for further discus-
sion and an enlivened lecture. Not everyone has to play.
Some students can watch while others play. Let them
all figure out the rules together. Don’t help them; this is
part of the process. If you choose, you can juxtapose this
game with chess, the popular board game of medieval
Europe. As Europe became more powerful and once the
Vikings converted to Christianity, hnefatafl lost its place
in the world of games; however, it appears to have been
popular with the Vikings until at least 1000. You can
discuss the differences between the games, for example,
the different social stratification and fighting strategies.
The history of chess is far more complex and convoluted,
involving shifts in women’s agency and social stratifica-
tion as represented by changes in pieces and moves on
the board. For more historical details about chess see
the book Birth of the Chess Queen: A History by Marilyn
Yalom (2005).
Continuing the theme of textual development, let your
students experiment with the Viking alphabet known as
Futhark. Futhark was written in straight-line letters called
runes. The name Futhark derives from the fi rst six letters
of the alphabet: F_U_T_H _ A _ R _K. Futhark is a com-
bination of the Etruscan alphabet with several Latin or
Roman letters added. Provide students with copies of the
alphabet and the corresponding letters for transliteration
from:
www.ancientscripts.com/futhark.html
Provide paper and have students write their names in
Futhark.
But unlike the other alphabets students have worked
with, runes were also used for casting. The runes them-
selves seem to have derived from the Old Norse word
run which means “secret,” or runa, meaning “secret whis-
per.” Each rune has a unique pattern that carries a secret
meaning. The runes were intended to bring balance and
harmony into life. The individual letters were used for tell-
ing the future. When combined to form words, they were
most often used for inscriptions on monuments or funeral
markers. Today these markers are called rune stones.
Once students write out their names, have them look at
the meaning of the fi rst letter of their names. If you have
rune stones, have them cast the stones and see what the
casting tells them. Many bookstores and New Age stores
sell rune stones. One of the things students should notice
is that rune stones didn’t really “tell” the future, nor were
they thought to create someone’s future. The Vikings be-
lieved they created their own future. In that sense they felt
very empowered, and thus the runes offer more informa-
tion about qualities and characteristics than they do about
the future. Th is Web site provides detailed information
about casting itself and the variations on the alphabet:
www.sunnyway.com/runes/
Finally, it would be good to provide students with im-
ages of extant rune stone markers and some information
about what the stones usually were about. Discuss the
complexity of this alphabet compared with other alpha-
bets they have now worked with. What dictates alphabet
development? Does this indicate the amount of texts a so-
ciety might have?
RECOMMENDED FILMS
■ The Thirteenth Warrior (2000, 103 min.). Much of this
movie is Hollywood fantasy. On the other hand, you can
 Chapter 9 New Empires and Common Cultures, 600–1000 ce ◆ 109
use some scenes for specific purposes. Based on Michael
Crichton’s novel Eaters of the Dead, the fi lm merged the
travel narrative of Ibn Fadlan with elements of Beowulf
to devise the fi nal story. The use of these two primary
sources provides one topic for discussion. One scene
early in the fi lm shows a slave woman volunteering to
go on to the next world with the dead Viking chief—in
other words volunteering to be sacrificed. Th is scene ap-
pears to be faithful to Fadlan’s account, including the
ritual prayer and the slave girl’s willingness to die but,
as one would imagine, with a moment of panic just be-
fore death. In the same scene, the narrator comments on
how barbaric he fi nds the Vikings. Th is provides a good
opportunity to discuss stereotypes and inaccuracies. In
particular, he refers to a communal bowl from which ev-
eryone washes and performs other morning ablutions.
In reality, Vikings are now thought to have been espe-
cially assiduous about their cleanliness and would not
have passed one bowl around for everyone to perform
their morning throat clearing. Much later in the fi lm, the
warriors prepare the Viking village for attack by the un-
known beasts. Th is well-done scene shows some of the
Vikings’ defense strategies. Probably no other portion of
the movie is worth showing for historical value.
■ Byzantium: The Lost Empire (2007, 208 min.). This doc-
umentary was a year in the making, and the fi nal product
was well worth the wait. It provides an excellent survey of
the establishment of a new empire rising out of the crum-
bling western Roman Empire. The fi lm shows how Byz-
antium became one of the new seats of learning, a place
for thriving trade and a recreated, wealthier Rome. Part
1 addresses the fall of Rome, the rise of Christianity, and
the roots of the Byzantine Empire. Part 2 discusses the
development of Byzantine bureaucracy, a centralized gov-
ernment, and the negotiation between church and state.
Part 3 deals with the empire’s collapse.
■ In Search of Ancient Ireland (2003, 170 min.). In Search
of Ancient Ireland is also broken into three logical sections:
the pre-Christian period, the missionary era, and the pe-
riod under Viking control. Therefore, the documentary
must begin in the Stone Age, around 2000 bce; it ends
at the time of the Norman invasion of 1167 ce. For this
chapter, only portions of the second section and third
parts would be relevant.
■ Islam: Empire of Faith (2001, 120 min.). PBS supported
the creation of this documentary, which traces the rise
of Islam in its fi rst thousand years. It attempts to provide
some balance to the religion in a post–9/11 world, show-
ing the negative and the positive aspects of such a pow-
erful force. Included in this three-part fi lm is a helpful
understanding of the cultural impact Islam had on the
European Renaissance. See the Web site, which includes
teaching resources, at the end of this chapter.
■ The Viking Ships (1995, 22 min.). This excellent brief
fi lm discusses the technology of Viking shipbuilding as
discovered through an underwater archaeological site
from which five ships were recovered and ultimately re-
built. Much was learned from this 1960s excavation and
recovery process, out of which developed the Roskilde
Museum in Denmark. The fi lm uses the Bayeaux Tapestry
as an important source linking the Batt le of Hastings with
Viking history. The length allows time for a discussion
following the fi lm.
RECOMMENDED READING
Marc Bloch, 1961. Translator L. A. Manyon. Feudal
Society, vols. 1 and 2.
Denise Lardner Carmody, 1989. Women and World
Religions.
Dáibhí Ó Cróinín, 1999. Early Medieval Ireland, 400–
1200.
Sir John Glubb, 1970. The Life and Times of Muhammad.
Timothy Gregory, 2005. History of Byzantium.
Mark Harrison, 1993. Viking Hersir, 793–1066 a.d.
Gwyn Jones, 2001. A History of the Vikings.
Robert Lacey and Danny Danziger, 1999. The Year
1000: What Life Was Like at the Turn of the First
Millennium.
Brendan Lehane, 2005. Early Celtic Christianity.
John Man, 1999. Atlas of the Year.
Lucien Musset, 2002. Translator Richard Rex. The
Bayeaux Tapestry.
James Reston, Jr., 1998. The Last Apocalypse.
Susan Reynolds, 1994. Fiefs and Vassals: The Medieval
Evidence Reinterpreted.
E. G. Richards, 1998. Mapping Time: The Calendar and
Its History.
Richard E. Rubenstein, 2003. Aristotle’s Children: How
Christians, Muslims, and Jews Rediscovered Ancient
Wisdom and Illuminated the Dark Ages.
Charles Thomas, 1997. Celtic Britain.
Marilyn Yalom, 2005. Birth of the Chess Queen.
RECOMMENDED TEXTS FOR
STUDENT READING
Robert van Gulik, translator, 1976. Celebrated Cases of
Judge Dee.
110 ◆ Chapter 9 New Empires and Common Cultures, 600–1000 ce
Th is novel was originally written sometime in the Ming
Period (1368–1644) by an anonymous Chinese author as
a series of mystery stories based on the real-life character
of Di Renjie (c. 630–c. 700), a judge and statesman during
the Tang period. Later, van Gulik found the manuscript
and translated it into English. It provides us an intriguing
way to evaluate life in Tang China with much for you and
your students to discuss.
Magnus Magnusson and Hermann Pálsson, translators.
Laxdaela Saga.
Bernard Scudder, translator, 1997. Svanhildur
ÓskarsdÓtt ir, editor, 2004. Egil’s Saga.
These texts were both written during the period of Icelan-
dic Viking sett lement and offer relatively faithful accounts
of Viking life. They debunk many of the stereotypes of
Vikings as only violent barbarians, providing details of
family life, honor codes, and political structures. Students
enjoy them because once they begin to recognize the
characters, the stories are like tenth-century soap operas.
Life really doesn’t change that much.
Murasaki Shikibu, translator Richard Bowring, 1996.
The Diary of Lady Murasaki.
Murasaki Shikibu, translator Royall Tyler, 2003. The Tale
of Genji.
Liza Dalby, 2000. The Tale of Murasaki.
Any of these, or selections from each, would provide a
window into many levels of Heian Japan’s court life and
allow you to expand on all aspects of Japanese culture
from literature to health care practices to romance. Dalby
provides an excellent piece of historical fiction, including
tankas written by Murasaki. The Tale of Genji is also fic-
tion, by some called the fi rst novel, written by Murasaki
to entertain other court members. The diary is a brief pri-
mary source that can be used in many ways, one of them
being to contrast Murasaki’s writing with her diary.
Susan Whitfield, 2001. Life Along the Silk Road.
Whitfield is a foremost authority on the Silk Road. Th is
text offers a number of discrete stories based in different
time frames and locations. You can use the whole book or
portions of it at various times in the semester. It is excep-
tionally well done in terms of historical detail.
WEB SITES
Byzantium: Byzantine Studies on the Internet
An excellent source for primary documents
www.fordham.edu/halsall/byzantium/
Explore Byzantium
One of the most detailed sites on Byzantium
byzantium.seashell.net.nz/index.php
Hurstwic: Viking Age History
Excellent source for links on all aspects of Viking history
www.valhs.org/history/text/history.htm
Internet Islamic History Sourcebook
Links to primary source material on Islam
www.fordham.edu/halsall/islam/islamsbook.html
Irish Monastery Movement
Article on the monastic movement in Ireland from the
sixth to the tenth centuries
american_almanac.tripod.com/monks.htm
Islam: Empire of Faith
Interactive Web site with timeline
www.pbs.org/empires/islam/timeline.html
Islamic History
Provides an original version of the history of Islam for
the Encyclopedia Britannica as well as a lengthy list of
additional links
www.uga.edu/islam/history.html
The Origins of the Shia-Sunni Split
A detailed site on the historical problems that caused
the permanent division of the Muslim faith; includes
maps, audio texts, images, and more
www.npr.org/templates/story/story.
php?storyId=7332087
The Tale of Murasaki Web Site
Th is site provides a wealth of social historical
information on Heian Japan
www.lizadalby.com/tale%20of%20murasaki.html
Vikings
General information on Vikings in England
www.bbc.co.uk/history/ancient/vikings/
Vikings Ship Museum
Excellent site with multiple interactive opportunities
www.vikingeskibsmuseet.dk/
CH A PTER 10

Becoming “The World,”

1000–1300 ce

▶ Commercial Connections ▶ New Elites

Revolutions at Sea Negotiating with Neighbors
Commercial Contacts What Was China?
Global Commercial Hubs ▶ China’s Neighbors, 1000–1300
The Egyptian Anchorage The Rise of Warriors in Japan
The Anchorage of Quanzhou The Cultural Mosaic of Southeast Asia
The Tip of India ▶ Christian Europe
▶ Sub-Saharan Africa Comes Together A World of Knights
West Africa and the Mande-Speaking Peoples Eastern Europe
The Empire of Mali The Russian Lands
East Africa and the Indian Ocean What Was Christian Europe?
The Trans-Saharan and Indian Ocean Slave Trade Universities and Intellectuals
Islam in a Time of Political Fragmentation Traders and Warriors
Afro-Eurasian Merchants Crusaders
Diversity and Uniformity in Islam ▶ The Americas
Political Integration and Disintegration, 1050–1300 Andean States
What Was Islam? North American Connections
▶ India Up for Grabs ▶ The Mongol Transformation of Afro-Eurasia
Invasions and Consolidations Mongols in China
What Was India? Mongol Reverberations in Southeast Asia
▶ Song China, 960–1279 The Fall of Baghdad
A Chinese Commercial Revolution

LECTURE OUTLINE I. A Globe of Regional Worlds

Th is chapter brings us to a time on the brink of the early
modern world as regions became closely connected
through trade. It was also a time of religious confl ict, colo-
nization, migration, and global exchange. Th is chapter
raises the historical paradox of how the world was becom-
ing more interconnected, while its regions became more
distinct. It examines the rise of distinct countries such as
India, China, and those in Europe. It also looks at the con-
tinued progress in the Americas and sub-Saharan Africa.
The chapter concludes with the invasion of the Mongols
throughout Asia and the Middle East and the fall of Bagh-
dad in 1258.
A. During the years from 1000 to 1300, people
from distant regions exchanged ideas, tools,
and cultural norms
B. Contact and exchange reinforced the sense of
difference across cultures and set up bounded
cultural worlds like “Europe,” “China,” or
“India”
C. Areas that had remained apart found their own
identities strengthened with litt le contact with
others
D. Paradox: the world was becoming more
interconnected while its regions became more
distinct

111
112 ◆ Chapter 10 Becoming “The World,” 1000–1300 ce
II. Commercial Connections
A. Revolutions at sea
1. By the tenth century, sea routes had
eclipsed land routes for trade
a. Improved navigational aids
b. Refi nements of shipbuilding
c. Better map making
d. Breakthroughs in commercial laws and
accounting practices
2. Ships could carry much more than people
and beasts of burden could
3. Compass was crucial to the maritime
revolution
a. Invented by Chinese
b. Use of the device spread rapidly
c. Allowed sailing during cloudy weather
i. So opened up the Mediterranean
during the whole year
d. Mapmaking easier and more accurate
e. Made oceans like the Atlantic easier to
navigate
4. Shipping became less dangerous
a. Better vessels rigged with lateen sails or
junks
b. Protection of political authorities
i. Karim, armed coveys to protect
ships
5. Sea routes replaced land routes
a. New routes led to more global
connections
b. Also created more divisions
B. Commercial contacts
1. Agricultural development changed the
nature of trade and transportation
a. Irrigation
b. Crop rotation
c. New grain and grass crops
d. Grew food in newer areas
e. Changes yielded surpluses that needed
to be traded
2. Ships made it profitable to ship bulky
commodities
C. Global commercial hubs
1. Long-distance trade created new
commercial cities
2. Meeting points between two entrepôts
became cosmopolitan
3. Th ree places emerged as major anchorages
a. Cairo-Fustat (old Cairo)
b. Quanzhou
c. Quilong
D. The Egyptian anchorage
1. Cairo and Alexandria served as main
maritime commercial centers with ties to
Indian Ocean
2. Numerous Muslim and Jewish fi rms (kin-
based)
3. Silk yarn and textiles most commonly
traded commodities
a. Zaytuni (satin) from Quanzhou
4. The trade cities prospered because Islamic
leaders created sophisticated commercial
institutions
5. Karimi-protected fleets became postal
carriers
6. Islamic legal system helped created a
favorable trade environment
a. Laws against usury
b. Partnerships
E. The anchorage of Quanzhou
1. Busiest trade city in China
2. More centralized with the Office of
Seafaring Affairs
a. Taxed, registered, and examined cargo,
sailors, and traders
b. Hosted annual ritual to summon
favorable winds
c. Locals and foreigners sought protection
from goddess Mazu
3. Junks—main ship used in Asia
a. Sailed to Java, through Strait of Malacca
to Quilong on India’s southwest coast
b. Farther west, switched crew and cargo
to the smaller Arabian dhows
c. Best ships in the world because of
seaworthiness, size, and navigation
equipment
d. Not all sailors on junks were Chinese
4. Quanzhou’s population diverse
a. Foreign traders stayed on and ran
successful businesses
b. Mixed except for religious worship
F. The tip of India
1. Chola dynasty became a major power in
south India
2. Eventually, Muslim traders sett led on
southwest coast, and Quilon became a
major trade hub
3. Traders from China used Quilon as a
midpoint to unload wares and pick up
passengers and commodities from the
West
 Chapter 10 Becoming “The World,” 1000–1300 ce ◆ 113
4. Sailors and traders strictly observed the
customs of the city
5. Muslims were largest foreign community
in the port
6. Animals—horses and elephants—along
with spices, perfumes, and textiles
7. Traders knew each other and personal
relationships were key to transactions
III. Sub-Saharan Africa Comes Together
A. After 1000 ce, sub-Saharan Africa ceased to be
a world apart
1. Nowhere in Africa escaped the effects of
the outside world
B. West Africa and the Mande-speaking peoples
1. Mande-speaking peoples emerged as
the link within and beyond West Africa
because of their expertise in commerce and
political organization
a. Mande is part of the larger Niger-Congo
languages
b. Mande or Mandinka people’s home was
and is the area between the Senegal and
Niger Rivers
2. By the eleventh century, the Mande spread
their cultural, commercial, and political
hegemony from the high grasslands of the
savannah to the woodlands and tropical
rain forests
3. Mande and other groups developed
centralized polities called sacred kingships
4. Trading networks already established with
trading hubs before European explorers
and traders arrived
5. Most vigorous and profitable businesses
were the ones that stretched across the
Sahara desert
a. Most prized trade item was salt mined
in northern Sahel by the city of Taghaza
b. Gold mined within the Mande
homeland
c. Slaves were traded to the sett led Muslim
communities of North Africa and Egypt
C. The empire of Mali
1. Successor state to the kingdom of Ghana
a. Exercised political sway over a vast area
up to the 1400s
b. Malian Empire represented the triumph
of horse warriors
i. Epic of Sundiata
c. Horses became prestige objects of the
savannah peoples
2. Mali Empire was a thriving commercial
polity by the fourteenth century
3. Mali Empire had two of the largest West
African cities
a. Jenne, an ancient northern commercial
entrepôt
b. City of Timbuktu founded around 1100
ce as a seasonal camp for nomads
i. Two large mosques still extant
ii. Famous for its intellectual
vitality because Muslim scholars
congregated to debate tenets of
Islam
D. East Africa and the Indian Ocean
1. Eastern and southern African regions were
also integrated into long-distance trading
systems
a. Wind patterns made East Africa a
logical endpoint for Indian Ocean trade
b. Swahili peoples living along the coast of
East Africa became active brokers with
the peoples of the Arabian Peninsula,
the Persian Gulf territories, and India’s
west coast
c. Most valued trade commodity was gold
i. Mined between Limpopo and
Zambezi Rivers
ii. Mined by Shona-speaking peoples
2. Commercial integration of the Swahili and
Shona peoples enabled products to flow
from the interior to the coast
a. A great meeting ground for trade was
the island of Madagascar
i. Madagascar became one of the
most intermixed and multicultural
places in the world
E. The trans-Saharan and Indian Ocean slave
trade
1. African slaves valued as much as gold
a. After Islam spread into Africa, sailing
techniques improved through shared
technology
b. Slave trade across the Sahara and Indian
Ocean boomed
2. Th is slave system was unlike the chattel
slavery found much later in the Americas
a. Quran attempted to mitigate the
severity of slavery by requiring slave
owners to treat their slaves with
kindness and generosity
b. Quran praised manumission of slaves as
an act of piety
114 ◆ Chapter 10 Becoming “The World,” 1000–1300 ce
c. African slave trade flourished under
Islam, and slaves fi lled a variety of roles
in the slave-importing societies
i. Slaves were pressed into military
duties
ii. Some were valued for their
seafaring skills and ended up
as crew aboard Muslim trading
dhows
iii. Women mostly used for domestic
servants
iv. Other enslaved women forced to
be concubines of powerful Muslim
political figures and businessmen
v. Enslaved peoples worked on
plantations, especially in lower
Iraq
3. In the ninth century slaves revolted on
those plantations
a. Slaves were prized for their labor and as
status symbols for owners
b. These societies owned many slaves,
but the economic forces and social
structures of the communities did
not rely on mass ownership of human
beings as it did in the antebellum
American South
F. Islam in a time of political fragmentation
1. Islam had the same burst of expansion,
prosperity, and cultural diversification that
had swept the rest of the Afro-Eurasian
world
a. The peoples of Islam remained
politically fractured even with their
common religious beliefs
b. The dream of trying to unify and
centralize the rule of an Islamic state
ended in 1258 when the Mongols
sacked Baghdad
2. Islam responded to instability by
undergoing major changes
a. Commercial networks carried the word
of the Quran
b. Islam became more open and embraced
a variety of cultures
3. The world acquired another “core” region
centered in what is now called the Middle
East
4. By the thirteenth century, India and
China were the more technologically
advanced and prosperous agrarian
societies
a. Trade was the main source of
prosperity
G. Afro-Eurasian merchants
1. Long-distance merchants most responsible
for integrating Islamic worlds
2. Merchants were as diverse as their business
3. Long-distance trade surged because an
advanced legal framework supported it
a. Mercantile community was self-policing
because of the need to maintain
reputation
b. Customers and traders were confident
agreements would be honored thanks
to partnerships, letters of credit,
knowledge of local trade customs and
currency
H. Diversity and uniformity in Islam
1. Muslim rulers and clerics had to deal with
large non-Muslim populations
a. Muslim rulers granted non-Muslims
religious toleration if they followed
Muslim political authority
b. Non-Muslims had to pay a special
toleration tax called the jizya
c. Non-Muslims had to be properly
deferential to Muslim rulers
i. Wearing special clothing
ii. Dismounting from their horses
when passing important Muslim
leaders
d. Regulations shaped the dhimma
system, which granted protection to
religious minorities
e. Religious tolerance helped make Islamic
cities hospitable environments for
traders from around the world
2. Islam was an expansionist faith
a. Intense proselytizing carried the sacred
word to new frontiers
b. Also spread Islamic institutions that
supported more commercial exchanges
3. Islam was not a uniform faith
a. Sufism as Islam’s mystical movement
b. It was inside the Sufi brotherhoods that
Islam became a religion to the people
c. Sufi orders brought about massive
converts from Christianity
d. The Mevlevi Sufi order is famed for
the ceremonial dancing of its whirling
dervishes
I. Political integration and disintegration, 1050–
1300
 Chapter 10 Becoming “The World,” 1000–1300 ce ◆ 115
1. From 950 to 1050, it appeared that Shiism
would be a vehicle for uniting the whole of
the Islamic world
a. Fatimid Shiites in Egypt and North
Africa
b. Abbadis state in Baghdad fell under
Shiite Buyid family
c. Each created universities in Cairo and
Baghdad, which ensured that Islam’s
two leading centers of higher learning
were Shiite
2. But divisions sapped Shiism as Sunni
challenged Shiite power and established
their own strongholds
3. Sunni believers were mainly Turks who
had migrated, not the Islamic central core
from the steppe lands
4. By the thirteenth century, Islamic core had
fractured into three distinctive regions
5. Islam had splintered polities
J. What was Islam?
1. Islam evolved from Muhammad’s original
goal of creating a religion for Arab peoples
a. Its influence spread across Eurasia and
Africa
b. Some worried about Islam’s true nature
c. Heterogeneity fostered cultural
blossoming as was apparent in all fields
of higher learning
2. The most influential and versatile thinker
was Ibn Rushd (1126–1198)
a. Ibn Rushd believed that faith and
reason could be compatible
b. He believed that the proper forms of
reasoning had to be entrusted to the
educated class—the ulama
3. By the fourteenth century, Islam had
become the people’s faith, not a religion of
the minority
a. The agents of conversion were mainly
Sufi saints and Sufi brotherhoods and
not the ulama
b. Sufism spoke to the religious beliefs
and experiences of ordinary men and
women
IV. India Up for Grabs
A. Turks brought Islam to India, but it only added
to the cultural mosaic
1. India became a trading, migrating, and
cultural intersection of Afro-Eurasian
peoples—a nerve center for the political
balance of the world
2. India had wealth but it remained splintered
into the “rajas” clans
B. Invasions and consolidations
1. Turkish warlords entered India
a. Mahmud of Gahzna was one such
conqueror
b. He wanted to learn from the conquered
in order to win status within Islam and
make his capital a great center of Islamic
learning
2. Wars over control of the plains raged until
one by one the fractured kingdoms fell
3. Land-bound Turkish Muslim regime of
northern India was known as the Delhi
Sultanate (1206–1526)
a. Its rulers strengthened the cultural
diversity and tolerance that were part of
Indian society and culture
b. The Delhi Sultanate was rich and
powerful, which brought political
integration but did not enforce cultural
homogeneity
C. What was India?
1. The entry of Islam into India made more of
a cultural mosaic, not less
2. The Turks cooperated to a point; they
became Indians but retained their Islamic
beliefs
3. The sultans did not meddle with beliefs
or culture and were content to collect the
jizya
4. Islam flourished even if it did not make
many new converts
a. As rulers, sultans granted lands to
Islamic scholars, the ulama, and Sufi
saints
5. The Delhi sultans built strongholds to
defend their conquests
a. Curves of domes, arches on mosques,
tombs, and palaces formed in the shape
of lotus flowers were uniquely South
Asian
b. Palaces and fortresses quickly evolved
into prosperous cities
6. Although newcomers and locals lived in
separate worlds, they blended their cultures
7. When Vedic Brahmanism evolved into
Hinduism, it absorbed many doctrines and
practices from Buddhism
116 ◆ Chapter 10 Becoming “The World,” 1000–1300 ce
a. With the Turk invasion in the thirteenth
century, leading Buddhist scholars
retreated to Tibet and enhanced
Buddhism there
b. Buddhist followers in India submerged
in the Hindu population or converted to
Islam
V. Song China, 960–1279
A. A Chinese commercial revolution
1. China’s commercial revolution during this
period had agrarian roots
a. Agriculture benefited from new
metalworking technology
b. China’s farmers were able to employ
new and stronger iron plows
2. Manufacturing flourished
a. By 1040, the fi rst gunpowder recipes
were being written down
b. Song entrepreneurs invented an array of
incendiary devices
c. Song artisans produced lighter, more
durable, and more beautiful porcelains
3. The Song Chinese brought about the
world’s fi rst industrial revolution,
producing goods for consumption far and
wide
4. The growth of commerce transformed the
role of money and its worldwide circulation
a. Song government was minting strings of
currency
b. Merchants began to tinker with printed-
paper certificates
5. Government began to print notes to pay
its bills that ultimately led to runaway
inflation, which destabilized the Song
regime
B. New elites
1. Commercial revolution enabled Song
emperors to privilege civilian rule over
military values
a. The Song undercut the powers of
the hereditary aristocratic elites by
establishing a government by a central
bureaucracy of scholar-officials
b. Chosen by the competitive civil service
exam
c. Civil officials were now drawn almost
exclusively from the ranks of learned
men who eventually became ruling elite
C. Negotiating with neighbors
1. As the Song flourished, nomads on the
outskirts focused on their success
2. Eventually nomadic armies such as those
of the Khitan and Jurchen saw China as an
object of conquest
3. Song dynasts were weak because they
had limited military power despite their
sophisticated weapons
4. China’s strength in manufacturing made
economic diplomacy an option
a. Paid tribute to groups on the fringes if
they were defeated such as the Liao
b. Treaties allowed the Song to continue to
live in peace
5. To keep up the payments and ensure
peace, the Song government printed more
money, which led to runaway inflation and
instability
D. What was China?
1. Outsiders helped to defi ne “Chinese” as the
Han
a. Authentic Chinese valued civilian
mores, especially those connected with
education
b. Being “Chinese” meant being literate—
reading, writing, and living by codes
inscribed in foundational texts
2. The Chinese created the most advanced
print culture
a. Private publishing industry expanded,
and printing houses sprang up all over
China
VI. China’s Neighbors
A. Under its Song rulers, China became the most
populist and wealthy of the world’s regions
1. Its population of more than 100 million in
1100 spread Chinese culture through trade
and migration
B. The rise of warriors in Japan
1. The pattern of regents ruling in the name
of the sacred emperor was repeated many
times in Japanese history
a. Began in Heian period (794–1185)
b. New capital of Heian (today’s Kyoto)
2. Intermarriage to the Heian imperial family
helped the Fujiwara family consolidate its
power
a. The Fujiwara nobles presided over a
refi ned Heian culture of flower and tea
ceremonies

3. Political marriages enabled the Fujiwara to
control the throne
a. The rise of large private estates (called
shoen) shifted the balance of power to
regional elites in the provinces
b. By 1100, more than half of Japan’s rice
land controlled by large estates
4. Heian aristocrats ruled through political
stealth and artistic style
a. Disdained the military
b. In the provinces, warriors attached
to certain kinship groups gathered
strength
c. As incipient samurai, they forced local
warrior organizations
5. Japan became home to multiple sources of
power
a. An aristocracy
b. An imperial family
c. Local warriors known as shoguns
6. It was an alliance between local potentates
and military commanders under the
Kamakura shoguns who served as
military protectors and brought Japan
stability
C. The cultural mosaic of Southeast Asia
1. Southeast Asia, like India, became a
crossroads of Afro-Eurasian influence
2. The prosperity and cultural vitality of
China and India spilled into Southeast Asia
by land and by sea
a. Thai, Vietnamese, and Burmese
gradually emerged as the largest
population groups in the mainland
region
3. Each population group borrowed what
they could use in their own culture from
the Chinese
4. In the capital at Angkor, the Khmers
created the most powerful and wealthy
empire in Southeast Asia
a. Water reservoirs enabled the Khmers to
flourish on the great plain
b. Khmer kings used their military
strength to expand kingdom into Thai
and Burmese states
5. Because of its strategic location, Malaaca
became perhaps the most international city
in the world
a. Maritime commerce brought people to
the area for trade
Chapter 10 Becoming “The World,” 1000–1300 ce ◆ 117
VII. Christian Europe
A. A world of knights
1. When the Carolingian empire collapsed,
northern Europe was left open to invasion
from Vikings
a. Left European peasants with no central
authority to protect them from warlords
b. Warlords with their weapons came to be
the unchallenged rulers of society
2. Peasants faced subjugation to the knightly
class
a. Each peasant was under the authority of
a lord who controlled every detail of his
or her life
b. Basis of a system known as “feudalism”
c. Feudal lords watched over an agrarian
breakthrough
3. Western Europe’s population increased,
and by 1300 almost half of Europe’s people
lived there
B. Eastern Europe
1. People emigrated to eastern frontiers of
Europe to farm
2. Feudalism in eastern Europe was a
marriage of convenience between
migrating peasants and local elites
a. Eastern Europe offered the promise
of freedom from arbitrary justice and
imposition of forced labor
C. The Russian lands
1. In Russian lands, western sett lers and
knights met an eastern brand of Christian
devotion
a. Th is world looked toward Byzantium
2. Its cities lay at the crossroads of overland
trade and migration
a. Kiev became one of the greatest cities of
Europe
b. Under Iaroslave the Wise, Kiev
was rebuilt to become a small-scale
Constantinople on the Dnieper
i. Even had a miniature Hagia Sophia
with a great dome
c. Message of the makeover city was
political as well as religious because the
ruler of Kiev cast himself in the mold of
the emperor of Constantinople
d. He was now called the tsar/czar from
the name Caesar
e. Tsar remained the title of rulers in
Russia
118 ◆ Chapter 10 Becoming “The World,” 1000–1300 ce
D. What was Christian Europe?
1. Catholicism became a faith that
transformed the emergence of a region
called “Europe”
2. Parish churches built all over
3. The clergy reached more deeply into the
private lives of the laity
a. Marriage and divorce were now part of
church business and not a private affair
b. After 1215, regular confession to a
priest was an obligation of all
Christians
c. Franciscans instilled a new Europe-
wide Catholicism based on embracing
poverty, care of the poor, and hospitals
E. Universities and intellectuals
1. Europe acquired its fi rst class of
intellectuals
a. Formed universities (union) fi rst in
Paris
b. Ability of the scholars to organize
themselves gave them an advantage not
enjoyed by their Arab contemporaries
c. Scholars endeavored to show that
everything came together to show
Christianity was the only religion that
fully met the aspirations of all rational
human beings
i. Thomas Aquinas
2. The Europe of 1300 was more culturally
unified than in previous times
a. Catholicism was more accessible and
had permeated more intensively
b. Leading intellectuals extolled the
virtues of Christian learning and
thought
c. Not a tolerant place for heretics—Jews
or Muslims
F. Traders and warriors
1. Great trading hubs emerged in Venice and
Genoa as trade from east and west passed
through those cities
a. Powerful families commanded trading
fleets and used their deep pockets to
influence dealings far and wide
G. Crusaders
1. Rome and Byzantium both sought to
gain the upper hand in the scramble for
European religious command
a. An unholy alliance evolved to push back
the expanding frontiers of Islam
2. During the eleventh century, western
Europeans launched a wave of attacks
against Islam
a. The First Crusade began in 1095, under
a call from Pope Urban II for warrior
nobility to put their violence to good
use
b. Combined their role as pilgrims and
soldiers to free Jerusalem from Muslim
rule
c. New concept that there was such a thing
as good and just wars
d. Such wars could cancel sin
3. In 1097, 60,000 men moved all the way
from northwest Europe to Jerusalem
a. Four “crusades”
b. Can’t be described as successful
because few stayed behind to guard the
territories they had won
4. Some Christians took out their frustrations
on other Christians
a. Frankish armies sacked Constantinople
in 1204
5. Muslim Middle East saw the crusades as
largely irrelevant
a. Long-term effect was to harden Muslim
feelings against the Franks of the West
6. There were other Crusade-like campaigns
of Christian expansion that were more
successful
a. Launched from a secure home base
b. Spanish Reconquista pushed back the
Muslims
c. Turned the tide in relations between
Christian and Muslim power in the
Mediterranean
VIII. The Americas
A. Andean states
1. Growth and prosperity led to the formation
of the Chimu Empire in South America
a. The Moche people expanded their
influence
b. The Chimu regime lasted until the Incas
invaded and incorporated it into their
empire in the 1460s
2. Chimu economy successful because it
was commercialized, especially through
agriculture
a. Complex irrigation systems expanded
production of food
 Chapter 10 Becoming “The World,” 1000–1300 ce ◆ 119
3. Between 850 and 900 ce, the Moche
peoples founded the city of Chan Chan,
with walls, roads, and palaces
4. Highland empire formed on the shores of
Lake Titicaca by the Tiwanaku people
a. Extensive evidence of long-distance
trade between highlands and semi-
tropical valleys
b. Trade was active enough to sustain an
enormous urban population
B. North American connections
1. Mesoameria saw the rise and fall of several
civilizations
a. Toltecs at Teotihuacán
i. Hybrid of migrants and farmers
ii. Relied on a maize-based economy
iii. Merchants provided status goods
b. Tula was a commercial hub but also a
political and ceremonial center
i. Temples made of giant pyramids
ii. Ball courts for real and ritual
sport
c. Cahokia was the largest city in North
America
i. Part of the Mississippian culture
ii. Landscape dominated by mounds
iii. City outgrew its environment
d. Cahokia represented the growing
networks of trade and migration across
North America
e. North America could organize vibrant
commercial societies and powerful
states
IX. The Mongol Transformation of Afro-Eurasia
A. Mongol conquest may have arisen from the
nomads’ need for grazing lands
1. New lands provided increase in wealth
through taxes
2. First expansionist move followed caravan
routes
a. Opportunities to raid not trade
B. The nomads began expansion in 1206 when a
cluster of tribes united
1. At a clan gathering, they chose Chinggis
(Genghis) Khan, or Supreme Ruler
2. Chinggis launched a series of conquests
southward across the Great Wall of China
and westward through Central Asia,
Afghanistan, and Persia
3. Mongols also invaded Korea
4. Mongol raiders built a permanent empire
by incorporating conquered peoples and
absorbing their culture
a. Intermarriage
5. Th rough conquest, Afro-Eurasian regions
were connected by land and sea
C. Mongols in China
1. Kubilai, Chinggis’s grandson, completed
the conquest of China
2. Kubilai and his army also overran the
Korean Peninsula
3. By 1280, the Mongols had established the
Yuan dynasty, 1280–1368, with a new
capital at Dadu
4. Political repercussion of these nomadic
invasions altered the social and economic
geography of China
5. Song court and its Chinese followers
regrouped in the south
a. Much of the economic activity moved
south to the new capital of Hangzhou
b. Hangzhou became the political center
of the Chinese people
i. Gateway to South China Sea
6. Mongol armies pressed until they reached
Hangzhou, which fell in 1276
a. The city survived the Mongol conquest
reasonably intact
b. When Marco Polo visited in the 1280s
and Ibn Batt uta in the 1340s, it was still
one of the greatest cities in the world
7. With the invasion, China acquired a new
ruling hierarchy of outsiders
a. Chinese elites governed locally
b. Outsiders ran the central dynastic polity
and collected taxes for the Mongols
D. Mongol reverberations in Southeast Asia
1. Southeast Asia was hurt by the Mongol
conquests
2. Mongols conquered the states of Sali and
Pyu in Unnan and Burma
3. Portions of mainland Southeast Asia
became part of the Mongol Empire and
annexed to China
E. The fall of Baghdad
1. Baghdad no longer the jewel in the Islamic
crown but still important
2. Coming from the eastern steppes, Mongols
set their sights on all of Asia
a. Mongke Khan, grandson of the great
Chinggis Khan, ordered the invasions
120 ◆ Chapter 10 Becoming “The World,” 1000–1300 ce
b. Kubilai (brother to Mongke) appointed
to rule over China, Tibet, and northern
India
c. Hulagu ordered to take the western
territories of Iran, Syria, Egypt,
Byzantium, and Armenia
3. Hulagu encountered a feeble foe in the
Baghdad caliph in 1258
a. Slaughter was vast; most perished; no
quarter given
b. Baghdad became a ruin
c. Syria was next with Muslims
slaughtered by the Mongols
4. Egyptian Mamluk forces fi nally stopped
the advance of the Mongols in 1261
a. Mongols were better at conquering than
controlling
b. Had a hard time ruling their newfound
territories
5. In China and Persia, Mongol rule collapsed
in the fourteenth century
6. Mongol conquest shaped the social
landscape of Afro-Eurasia
7. The conquest transformed Islam as it was
stripped of its power center, Baghdad
8. Once the conquests ended, the Mongol
state promoted the interconnectedness of
Afro-Eurasia
X. Conclusion
A. Trade and migration across long distances
made Afro-Eurasia prosper and become more
integrated
1. At the center of Afro-Eurasia, Islam was
fi rm
2. India became a commercial crossroads
3. China boomed and poured its
manufactures into trading networks
B. Trade helped defi ne the parts of the world
1. Helped create new classes of people—
thinkers, writers, and scientists
2. By 1300, territories were reimagined as
world regions with defi nable cultures and
defensible geographic boundaries
3. Neither sub-Saharan Africa nor the
Americas saw that kind of integration
4. Great African cultures flourished as
they came into contact with commercial
traders
5. American people also built great centers of
trade and culture
C. By 1300, the Afro-Eurasian regional worlds
were interconnected by trade, migration, and
confl ict
1. Mongol invasion added interconnectedness
once they controlled the vast territories of
Afro-Eurasia
2. Sea lanes also became an important source
of trade networks
D. With the rise of the Mongol Empire, the
regions of the world became those that we now
recognize as the cultural spheres of our modern
world
LECTURE IDEAS
The Role of Jewish Traders
As this chapter points out, trade was the single most im-
portant factor connecting the world during this period.
The establishment and continuation of trading circuits
across Afro-Eurasia can provide an illuminating lecture.
Many factors culminated to create this fourteenth-cen-
tury development. One area that is only briefly discussed
in the book chapter and thus warrants expansion is the
role of Jewish merchants in spreading and maintaining
trade circuits. The Jews were active traders in the Muslim
world. Although outside of society in the Christian areas,
they were accepted as an integral link in the trading chain.
Their ability to move across the continents successfully,
the complexities of their trade relationships, the develop-
ment of branches of Judaism such as the Sephardim and
the Ashkenazim, and growing anti-Semitism in Europe
are all topics that can be drawn into this lecture. For fur-
ther information see:
www.ibnjaldun.com/index.php?id=108&L=7#
cabecera
www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/847radanite.html.
Additionally, a lecture should emphasize the types of
items being traded by all merchants—the Genoese, Arab
traders, and others. Explain how commercial transactions
were arranged. Th is became especially important since
the transactions occurred cross-culturally. Examine the
role of the key cities that served as entrepôts, such as Ven-
ice, Cairo, and Calicut. Emphasize the possibilities for and
limitations of exchange in this trading system. For exam-
ple, primarily goods, not people, traversed these circuits.
Most goods that were traded had high value and were un-
affordable to the vast majority of people. Conclude with
how, over time, these circuits allowed for the diff usion of
ideas, such as the spread of Islam into Southeast Asia, and

technology, such as the increased use of gunpowder in
areas outside China. Sources for this additional informa-
tion can be found in Janet Abu-Lughod’s Before European
Hegemony. For a brief summary of this work, see Abu-
Lughod, “The World System in the Th irteenth Century:
Dead End or Precursor?” (see Recommended Reading).
The Blending of Cultures
How conquest brought disparate peoples together is an-
other theme of this chapter. In particular, Central Asian
warriors altered the thirteenth-century world. Both the
Turkish warriors who created the Delhi Sultanate and the
Mongols who conquered much of Eurasia in the thirteenth
century created new cultural and technological exchanges
and furthered contact between different worlds. A lecture
examining Central Asia helps clarify the role of pastoral
peoples in world history up to and beyond the thirteenth
century. Focus on one group, offering examples of pasto-
ral practice; this will help students understand the stark
lifestyle differences between urban and rural peoples. You
could devote part of the lecture to providing background
on the rise of the Mongol Empire, discussing how Mon-
golians applied herding and hunting practices to success-
ful fighting tactics, and discussing aspects of their social
history, such as women’s agency. Some great sources for
this lecture are: Gregory Guzman “Were the Barbarians a
Positive or Negative Factor in Ancient and Medieval His-
tory?”; S. A. M. Adshead, Central Asia in World History;
David Morgan, The Mongols; Adam T. Kessler, Empires
Beyond the Great Wall: The Heritage of Genghis Khan; Peter
Jackson, The Delhi Sultanate: A Political and Military His-
tory; and Bruce B. Lawrence, “The Eastward Journey of
Muslim Kingdoms: Islam in South and Southeast Asia,”
in John Esposito, The Oxford History of Islam (see Recom-
mended Reading).
Worlds Apart
Parts of sub-Saharan Africa and of the Americas had litt le
sustained interaction with the Eurasian world in the thir-
teenth century. They were worlds apart. Thus, unlike the
other cultural zones explored in this chapter, they did
not participate in the dramatic exchanges occurring in
the Eurasian world. A lecture that explores the religious
views, technology, and domesticated plants and animals
of the Aztecs in Mesoamerica and the peoples of the tropi-
cal rain forests of Africa in relation to other areas in the
world can explore the theme of worlds apart. For example,
students should understand that Chinese technology was
diff using throughout Eurasia during the thirteenth cen-
tury, but not into these other regions. World religions
Chapter 10 Becoming “The World,” 1000–1300 ce ◆ 121
such as Islam, Buddhism, and Christianity also had no
influence in these areas. The discussion should conclude
with the growing contact between sub-Saharan Africa
and the Eurasian world during the thirteenth century. It
should explore the incorporation of West Africa and the
East African coast into the trading networks of Eurasia
and into dar-al Islam and how these developments al-
tered their history. Th is helps to preview the coming con-
tact between the Americas and the rest of the world and
leads into activities and lectures in the coming chapters.
For sources on technology and domesticated plants and
animals, see Jared Diamond, Guns, Germs, and Steel: The
Fates of Human Societies; for Africa, see D. T. Niane, ed.,
UNESCO General History of Afr ica, V.IV; Paul Bohannan
and Philip Curtin, Africa and Africans, 3rd ed.; for the
Americas, see the relevant sections in John E. Kicza, “The
Peoples and Civilizations of the Americas Before Con-
tact”; Francis Berdan, The Aztecs of Central Mexico: An
Imperial Society (see Recommended Reading).
Crusades
Use the class activity in conjunction with a lecture or as
a stand-alone lecture, the topic of the Crusades provides
an important point of discussion. It also ties in many of
the themes in this chapter, among them interregional
contact, the production of a distinct Christian identity in
Europe, an explosion of global trading, and the influence
of a new Asian identity. A lecture on the Crusades can be
as simple as an outline of the major details of the move-
ment: how and why it started, the successes and failures of
the seven major Crusades, and the impact of the Crusades
across Europe and the Middle East. Many students still
retain a simplistic view of the crusading process, much as
they do the idea of jihad. They believe that the Crusades
were all based in religion and that it was a righteous move-
ment. It is important to poke holes in this notion as much
as the same should be done with the modern-day jihad
movement. Parallels between the two could be touchy but
would certainly ensure a provocative debate among your
students. Perhaps they will even leave thinking about
the historical process. One historical human-interest
story students appreciate is the high regard Richard the
Lion-Hearted and Saladin appear to have had for one an-
other. Even though politics interfered with their ability to
come to a long-term peaceful resolution, these two men
might have created a different outcome if King Richard
had had more power. For more information on the Cru-
sades consider the following sources: Angus Konstam,
Historical Atlas of the Crusades; Amin Maalouf, Crusades
Through Arab Eyes; James Reston Jr., Warriors of God:
Richard the Lionheart and Saladin in the Third Crusade;
122 ◆ Chapter 10 Becoming “The World,” 1000–1300 ce
Thomas F. Madden, ed., Crusades: The Illustrated History
(see Recommended Reading).
CLASS ACTIVITIES
The Crusades
Much in the vein of the earlier exercise on the Silk Road,
you can have your students journey through the Cru-
sades by preassigning each of them a role. Have them
research life in the Middle Ages ahead of time and pro-
viding them with certain parameters, but don’t tell them
which Crusade they will be on. I actually give each stu-
dent a sheet with period drawings or paintings and a
litt le detail about who they are representing. The goal of
this exercise is to have students understand that many
crusades carried out by ordinary Europeans failed. Th is
was a mass movement throughout Europe. To do this I
break the class into three or four groups, with each group
on a different crusade. I usually do the People’s Crusade,
the Th ird Crusade with Richard the Lion-Hearted, and a
children’s crusade. You might cover the Fourth Crusade,
with the attack on Constantinople. Another crusade that
allows students to look at people other than soldiers and
on which there is a lot of information is the Virgin’s Cru-
sade. These allow you to assign multiple real-life roles.
For example, with the People’s Crusade you begin with
two leaders, Peter the Hermit and Walter the Penniless,
a knight. Knights had a certain number of servants, at
the least a squire and perhaps others. Expect your stu-
dents to get into character. You will need to provide brief
narratives for them. At the beginning of the exercise
they receive maps so they know where they are going.
As they move from station to station, the notes tell them
where they are at that point on the map so they know
where they are traveling and can deduce which Crusade
they are on. I actually have them move from one location
to another as if they were on a journey, like a treasure
hunt. At each location is another note with additional in-
formation in historical keeping with their crusade. The
language is appropriate to the time; and it is a primary-
source document. For example, the knights might have
to go to another professor who pretends to be a priest.
The students have to take the Crusader’s Oath, be blessed
and receive the Crusader’s Cross. Ultimately, they all
end up back in the classroom. Usually about ten minutes
are left in a fi ft y-minute class, allowing each group to
give a brief synopsis of their Crusade and the outcome.
I usually ask them to mention one or two of the most
interesting details about the Crusade and where they
traveled. Students begin to understand the enormity of
the movement, who it affected, how many people died in
the process, and how abysmally unsuccessful in the long
run the Crusades were in regaining control of the Holy
Land. The next class period is a lecture on the Crusades
that brings everything together.
Role of Music in Life
Th is chapter spends time discussing the growth of the
Sufis, a subgroup of the Sunni branch of Islam. Some
members of this mystical sect place great value on the
trance state that can be achieved by the dancing of the
whirling dervishes. Many of our students have great dif-
ficulty forming any sort of resonance with knowledge that
is gained in a way that does not utilize a rational, Socratic
method and is not scientifically based. A class activity al-
lowing students to rationalize trance states in a way that
they can relate will begin to broaden their awareness. First
explain the purpose of the dances and dancers in Sufism
and the sect’s historical path (The Sufi Orders in Islam by J.
Spencer Trimingham, 1998), then explain how the danc-
ing helps to move dancers into a trancelike state (Rumi
and the Whirling Dervishes by Shems Friedlander). Follow
this brief explanation with a fi lm clip of actual whirling,
for example:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=VuzHDKL40dk
An excellent new fi lm showing a young woman and
other Turkish dancers is I Named Her Angel (see Recom-
mended Films for further details). As another option, you
could play the music that accompanies the dervishes. An
excellent source of music and its history is Music of Islam
from Celestial Harmonies, Vol. 9. Mawlawiyah Music of the
Whirling Dervishes offers multiple options along with an
extensive historical overview and detailed musical infor-
mation. Next, compare the act of whirling to modern-day,
hardcore dancing. Be careful that students understand
that one is an act of religious devotion and that the other
is done for pleasure. However, there are distinct similari-
ties. When you talk to people who perform these dances
they both speak of achieving a trancelike state, reaching a
place where the mind is clear and they are free of worldly
thoughts. Scientific research has shown that this kind of
repetitive activity actually alters your brain chemistry
for a brief period. The dancers have similar experiences.
Show students a clip of hardcore dancing from YouTube.
Th is link provides a good example:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=qACnquW0y _Y
If the clip is gone, just search for hardcore dancing or
moshing on YouTube; you will get many hits. People do
hardcore dancing to the music of groups like Chiotos, Bul-
let for My Valentine, or Converge. Consider starting the
class without introducing the lecture but just playing the

YouTube video. You will defi nitely get their attention. You
can follow the comparisons with a discussion of the spiri-
tual drive for this kind of movement, which is obviously
present for many people.
The Mesoamerican Cosmology
Begin to introduce students to the unique philosophies
and mythology of Mesoamerican civilizations by having
them compare the calendars of the Maya:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_calendar
and the Aztecs. The Aztec calendar is considered to be the
system used by earlier pre-Colombian peoples of central
Mexico such as the Toltecs:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aztec_calendar
These two Web sites are good starting points for cre-
ating comparative calendars. Then introduce the Moche
culture of Peru. Although the Moche were very advanced
in many ways, they consciously chose not to have a calen-
dar because of their unique perspective on time and life.
Th is link gathers what litt le available information we have
on the general cosmology across Mesoamerica:
www.strangehorizons.com/2004/20040830/
calendar-a.shtml
Have your students discuss the variations among cul-
tural att itudes to time. How could these differences have
evolved? It would be useful to bring in the evolution of
earlier civilizations. For example, cyclical time in Egypt
likely evolved because of the flooding patterns of the Nile.
Students learn how to make connections across the his-
tories you have discussed and strengthen their analytical
abilities.
The Travels of Marco Polo and Ibn Battuta
An activity on a major theme of this chapter, trading in
the thirteenth century, is to explore the travels of Marco
Polo and Ibn Batt uta through the use of their travel ac-
counts. Both men’s travels encompassed most of the
Afro-Eurasian worlds, or the “Worlds Together” of the
late thirteenth and early fourteenth centuries. Helping
your students examine where and how the two men trav-
eled allows them to address the complexity and extensive-
ness of the period’s trading circuit. Compare and contrast
how Polo’s and Batt uta’s occupations allowed them to
travel so extensively. Also guide students to compare the
two men’s lifestyles versus those of other people in their
cultural realm. How did each man represent his society?
How did he present his society to those people with whom
he came into contact? Students should begin to recognize
Chapter 10 Becoming “The World,” 1000–1300 ce ◆ 123
that these men’s written descriptions of the societies they
visited provided insight into these new societies, as well
as into the worldviews of Christendom and Islam. Th is
last point reinforces a major chapter theme: even though
contact between the four major cultural areas of Eurasia
was on the increase in the thirteenth century, these zones
remained alien to each other. Assign portions of the read-
ings either as an outside class assignment or to groups in
class. Once students have read the sections ask them to
analyze the text and to consider how these documents
offer insights into the observed cultures as well as what
they reveal about Christendom and the Islamic world.
For further resources in preparing the exercise see Ross
Dunn, The Adventures of Ibn Battuta: A Muslim Traveler
of the Fourteenth Century; John Larner, Marco Polo and
the Discovery of the World; and Jeremy Bentley, Old World
Encounters: Cross- Cultural Exchanges in Premodern Times.
For primary sources to assign students see Marco Polo,
The Travels of Marco Polo: The Complete Yule- Cordier Edi-
tion (1993); and H. A. R. Gibb, Travels of Ibn Battuta, a.d.
1325–1354 (3 vols.). You can fi nd excerpts on the web for
Batt uta at:
www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/batuta.html
for Polo at:
www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/mpolo44–46.html
www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/polo-kinsay.html
RECOMMENDED FILMS
■ The Children’s Crusade (2000, 44 min.). This brief docu-
mentary recounts the story of Stephen of Cloyes, a young
boy who claimed to have had a vision that inspired him
to lead other children to save the holy sites of Jerusalem.
Th is documentary uses the available evidence to piece to-
gether what became one of the Children’s Crusades. It ex-
plains the children’s motivations, the trials they endured
along the journey, and what is ultimately believed the
fi nal outcome to be for most of the children. Mention is
also made of the German boy Nicholas, who also gathered
a following of children. Over the years, these stories be-
came embellished. However, that does not negate the fact
that the existence of the stories makes a statement about
the impact of the crusading movement.
■ Genghis Khan: Rise of the Conqueror (2002, 50 min.).
Th is documentary was produced for the Discovery Chan-
nel and traces the life of Genghis (Chinggis) Khan from
birth to death. It shows how he created the largest land
empire in history, drawing disputing tribes together. The
details of his military prowess and his formation of a great
army place him with Napoleon and Alexander the Great
124 ◆ Chapter 10 Becoming “The World,” 1000–1300 ce
as one of the world’s greatest military leaders. The fi lm be-
gins to balance the Mongol reputation for barbarity with
their litt le-known achievements, expanding our under-
standing of the culture.
■ I Named Her Angel (2005, 30 min.). This documentary
traces the training of a young girl to be a whirling der-
vish in the Sufi tradition. Watching Elif ’s training, we
learn about the origins of Sufism, the meaning of the vari-
ous rituals, the sect’s history, the teachings of Rumi (the
founder of the dervishes), and the function of whirling.
The fi lm provides a rare view into the mystical world of
Sufism and shows viewers a different face of Islam instead
of the angry imagery that is overtaking the media today.
■ Kingdom of Heaven (director’s cut; 2005, 194 min.). The
director Ridley Scott spent a great deal of time attempt-
ing to recreate accurately on screen the world of the Out-
remer between the Second and Th ird Crusades. He does
an admirable job in this feature-length, fictional fi lm. Th is
director’s cut allows you to expand on the factual points.
Historical figures emerge, such as King Baldwin IV and
Saladin. Base discussions on the Europeans’ attempts at
recreating a feudal world in the Holy Land, Outremer,
the world of chivalry and knighthood; or the Crusades
themselves. The additional commentaries and tagged
comments that can be put up during the movie give in-
sight into weapon styles, set choices, style of dress, types
of horses, and even languages and social customs. There
is much here to work with, more than can be absorbed in
one viewing.
■ Wonders of the African World: “The Road to Timbuktu” and
“Lost Cities of the South” (1999, 330 min., 6 parts). Th is trav-
elogue series by Henry Louis Gates Jr. was greatly lauded
and criticized by those few who actually watched it. I think
one of the reasons people were uncomfortable with the
series was the narrative’s personal nature; Gates was dis-
covering his roots, and at times his curiosity at answering
long-standing questions won over intellectual judgment.
Although he occasionally lacks tact, there is no lack of his-
torical integrity. I fi nd the videos engaging and visually
remarkable; my students never want me to stop the disk,
which is enough for me. The parts are broken up nicely. You
can show brief segments on a particular people or area that
will last anywhere from fi fteen to thirty minutes and your
stop to continue a lecture or discussion is smooth. “The
Road to Timbuktu” includes, as well as much more, infor-
mation on the Dogon people, Mali, Timbuktu, and the Tu-
areg nomads. “Lost Cities of the South” includes a section
on Zimbabwe. The series has an accompanying Web site
with teaching resources, links and other information at:
www.pbs.org/wonders/index.html.
RECOMMENDED READING
Janet Abu-Lughod, 1989. Before European Hegemony.
Jeremy Bentley, 1993. Old World Encounters: Cross-
Cultural Exchanges in Premodern Times.
Francis Berdan, 1982. The Aztecs of Central Mexico: An
Imperial Society.
Paul Bohannan and Philip Curtin, 1988. Africa and
Africans, 3rd ed.
Tobias Capwell, 2007. The Real Fighting Stuff: Arms and
Armour at Glasgow Museum.
K. N. Chaudhuri, 1990. Asia Before Europe: Economy and
Civilization of the Indian Ocean from the Rise of Islam
to 1750.
Basil Davidson, 1995. Africa in History: Themes and
Outlines.
Raymond Dawson, 1978. The Chinese Experience.
Jared Diamond, 1999. Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of
Human Societies.
Shems Friedlander, 2003. Rumi and the Whirling
Dervishes
Rosemary Horrox, translator and editor, 1994. The Black
Death.
Adam T. Kessler, 1993. Empires Beyond the Great Wall:
The Heritage of Genghis Khan.
Angus Konstam, 2002. Historical Atlas of the Crusades.
Amin Maalouf, 1989. Crusades Through Arab Eyes.
Thomas F. Madden, editor, 2005. Crusades: The
Illustrated History.
David Morgan, 1990. The Mongols.
James Reston Jr., 2002. Warriors of God: Richard the
Lionheart and Saladin in the Third Crusade.
WEB SITES
China and Europe, 1500 to 2000 and Beyond: What is
Modern?
Makes excellent comparisons regarding the degree of
development between Europe and Asia from ancient
history forward
afe.easia.columbia.edu/chinawh/web/help/
readings.html
CNN: Millennium
Historical information by millennium, with interactive
details and educator resources
www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/1999/millennium/
Mali: Ancient Crossroads of Afr ica
Although this site is for primary and secondary
educators, it is incredibly detailed, including links,
maps, and other sources; it is useful for all levels
mali.pwnet.org/index.htm

Marco Polo and His Travels
History of Marco Polo’s life
www.silk-road.com/artl/marcopolo.shtml
Mesoamerican Calendars
Good resource on calendars and the philosophy of time
and mythology
www.strangehorizons.com/2004/20040830/
calendar-a.shtml
Mexico Connect: Timeline Overview
Timeline of Mexico, Europe, and world from prehistory
to present day
www.mexconnect.com/mex_ /history.html
Medieval Europe
Interactive site that could be used for gathering
information or for class activity with students
www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/history/middleages/
The Moche
Multiple links and images; good map
www.latinamericanstudies.org/moche.htm
Chapter 10 Becoming “The World,” 1000–1300 ce ◆ 125
The Mongol Empire
Very complete, with additional links
www.accd.edu/sac/history/keller/Mongols/empire.
html
Sun and Moon Official Project Information
Extensive archeological Web site for museum and dig of a
Moche city, pyramids, and temples
www.huacadelaluna.org.pe/
The Travels of Ibn Battuta: A Virtual Tour with the 14th
Century Traveler
Th is is a site for secondary education, but you can easily
modify it for upper-level courses and use it as an
information source or for a class activity
www.sfusd.k12.ca.us/schwww/sch618/Ibn_
Batt uta/Ibn_Batt uta_Rihla.html
The World of the Mande
Overview of the Mande
server1.fandm.edu/departments/Anthropology/
Bastian/ANT269/man.html
CH A PTER 11

Crises and Recovery in

Afro-Eurasia, 1300s–1500s

▶ Collapse and Integration ▶ Western Christendom

The Black Death
Rebuilding States
▶ Islamic Dynasties
Rise of the Ottoman Empire
The Conquest of Constantinople
The Tools of Empire Building
Istanbul and the Topkapi Palace
Diversity and Control in the Ottoman Empire
The Emergence of the Safavid Empire in Iran
The Delhi Sultanate and the Early Mughal Empire
Reactions, Revolts, and Religion in Europe
State-Building and Economic Recovery in Europe
European Identity and the Renaissance
▶ Ming China
Impact of the Black Death on China
Resistance to the Yuan Dynasty
Ming Dynasty Founded 1368
Centralization under the Ming
Religion under the Ming
Ming Rulership
Trade under the Ming

LECTURE OUTLINE 1. Il-khanate in Persia

Th is chapter examines developments in Eurasia in the B. Growing influence of Turkish and Persian-
aftermath of the Mongol empires’ decline and the rav- speaking Muslims
ishment of the Black Death. It covers efforts to restore 1. Nomadic groups
political order and stability in the four Eurasian worlds— C. Rise of the Ottoman Empire
Christendom, the Islamic world, India, and China. Al- 1. Turkish warriors based in Anatolia
though each responded differently, broad patterns were 2. Champions of Sunni Islam
evident. Most important, they all relied on some form of a. By the mid-sixteenth century, they
dynasty to rebuild their state structure. And each suc- created a vast multiethnic, multilingual
ceeded in creating remarkably durable systems that would empire
shape their encounters with each other and the peoples of i. Anatolia
Africa and the Americas for centuries. ii. Balkans
3. The conquest of Constantinople
I. Collapse and Integration a. Mehmed the Conqueror (r. 1451–1481)
A. Mongol decline i. Built a fortress along Bosporus
B. The Black Death ii. Conquered the city on May 29,
1. Eurasian trade routes 1453
2. Population loss iii. Renamed it Istanbul
C. Rebuilding states b. Refugees fled to West with ancient texts
1. Dynasties c. Expansion continued
II. Islamic Dynasties i. Greece
A. Mongols failed to establish enduring regimes in ii. Balkans
the Islamic world 4. The tools of empire building

126
 Chapter 11 Crises and Recovery in Afro-Eurasia, 1300s–1500s ◆ 127
a. Suleiman expanded empire further
i. Led army on thirteen military
campaigns
ii. Gifted administrator
iii. Called “the Lawgiver” and “the
Magnificent”
b. Sultan was defender of the faith
i. Constructed mosques and
supported schools
5. Istanbul and the Topkapi Palace
a. Administrative and commercial center
b. Topkapi Palace
i. Residence of the sultan
ii. Training school for the
bureaucracy
iii. Harem
a. Had own hierarchy of rank and
prestige
b. 10,000 to 12,000 women lived
in the palace
6. Diversity and control in the Ottoman
Empire
a. More bilingual than other empires
b. Turkish was the language of
administration
c. Arabic and other languages were spoken
in the provinces
d. Regional autonomy
i. Military appointed loyal followers
to collect taxes for Istanbul and for
themselves.
e. Janissaries
i. Served the sultan
ii. Guarded against decentralizing
tendencies in the provinces
D. The emergence of the Safavid Empire in
Iran
1. Turkish-speaking warriors
2. Shiism as a unifying force
a. Intolerant of other religious views
3. Shah assumed role of a traditional Persian
king
4. Activist clergy
E. The Delhi Sultanate and early Mughal empire
1. Delhi Sultanate avoided Mongol conquest
a. Sultans patronized Muslim learning and
culture
2. Delhi Sultanate succumbed to new Turkish
invaders
a. Timur
3. Collapse of Delhi Sultanate precipitated
religious revivals
a. Sufism in Bengal
b. Bhakti Hinduism
c. Sikhism in Punjab
4. Islamic Afghani forces conquered the
Delhi Sultanate and created the Mughal
dynasty in 1526
a. Babur
III. Western Christendom
A. High Middle Ages (1100–1300)
1. Population growth
2. Commercial and manufacturing advances
a. expansion of long-distance trade
3. Cultural flowering
a. Universities
b. Islamic learning
B. Reactions, revolts, and religion in Europe
1. The Black Death
a. 25–50 percent of population perished
b. Declining influence of the Western
Church
c. Declining legitimacy of the feudal
order
i. Peasant revolts
a. Jacquerie
b. English Peasants’ Revolt
ii. Decline of Holy Roman empire
C. State-building and economic recovery in
Europe
1. Regional dynasties and states appear
a. Promotion of national languages
b. Use of religion to legitimize rule
c. Chronic struggles to assert authority
i. Landed nobility
ii. Peasants
d. Use of strategic marriages
2. Political consolidation and trade in
Portugal
a. House of Aviz consolidated power in
fi fteenth century
b. Dynasty promoted new commercial
horizons
i. Redirection of trade from
Mediterranean to Atlantic Ocean
ii. West Africa
iii. Vasco da Gama sails to India in
1498
3. Dynasty building and reconquest in Spain
a. Marriage of Isabella of Castile and
Ferdinand of Aragon in 1469
b. Inquisition against Jews and Muslims
c. Marriage into the House of Habsburg
128 ◆ Chapter 11 Crises and Recovery in Afro-Eurasia, 1300s–1500s
i. Charles V
4. The struggle of France and England and the
success of small states
a. France
i. France’s victory in the Hundred
Years’ War (1337–1453)
ii. House of Valois
a. Strategic marriages
b. England
i. War of the Roses (1455–1485)
failed to create a dynastic house
ii. Emergence of the House of
Tudor
5. Lack of centralization in most of Europe in
the fi fteenth century
a. Nobility still powerful
b. City-states flourished like Venice
D. European identity and the Renaissance
1. Scholars and artists developed a
humanist approach to arts, science,
literature
2. Sources for this new approach
a. Commercial prosperity
b. New monarchs and wealthy merchants
patronized the arts
c. Printing press
3. Confl ict with secular and religious
authorities
4. Creation of a network of educated men and
women
a. Concept of a good, “civilized” Europe
IV. Ming China
A. Impact of the Black Death on China
B. Resistance to the Yuan dynasty
1. Red Turbans
2. Zhu Yuanzhang
C. Ming dynasty founded 1368
D. Centralization under the Ming
1. Beijing
a. Forbidden City
b. Marriage and kinship
c. Rule through kinship
2. Elimination of rivals
3. Establishment of imperial bureaucracy and
administrative network
a. 10,000 to 15,000 officials
b. Villages
c. Social hierarchy
4. Rebuilding of infrastructure, tax system
E. Religion under the Ming
1. Emperors used religion to legitimize rule
F. Ming rulership
1. Religious and local dissent
2. Terror and repression
G. Trade under the Ming
1. Merchants reestablished long-distance
commercial exchange
a. Porcelain
2. Emperors suspicious of long-distance
trade
a. Foreign influence
b. Official, but seldom enforced, ban on
maritime commerce in 1371
3. Maritime expeditions of Zheng He (1405–
1433)
a. Exception to Ming policy
b. Attempt to establish tributary relations
throughout the Indian Ocean
c. Voyages canceled after threat from
Mongols reappeared in the north
4. Trade continued but without official
patronage
V. Conclusion
A. By the 1500s a small number of centralized,
expansive dynasties had emerged or were
emerging
B. Each was politically innovative
1. Use of dynastic marriage, religion,
administrative bureaucracies
C. Each sought commercial expansion
D. Europe, because of Muslim predominance in
Eurasian trade, sought new connections
LECTURE IDEAS
The Black Death and HIV-AIDS
For a lecture that details the scale and scope of the Black
Death on the Eurasian world, not simply Christendom,
see William McNeill’s Plagues and People, which explores
the role of infectious disease throughout world history.
More recent editions conclude with a discussion of the
current HIV-AIDS crisis and its implications. It is also
useful to draw on the growing epidemic of tuberculosis in
parts of the world. Janet Abu-Lughod’s “World System in
the Th irteenth Century: Dead End or Precursor?” from
the American Historical Association’s Essays on Global
and Comparative History as well as Robert Marks’s Origins
of the Modern World explain the impact of the plague on
the trade networks of the thirteenth century. Marks cites
compelling statistical data on the changing populations
in Asia as well as Europe as a result of the plague.
 Chapter 11 Crises and Recovery in Afro-Eurasia, 1300s–1500s ◆ 129

Zheng He’s Treasure Fleets well. Animosity among such groups as the Christian Ar-
menians, the Kurds, and the Ottomans are wounds that
A lecture on the Ming dynasty’s treasure fleets, com-
originated in the fourteenth and fi fteenth centuries and
manded by Zheng He in the fi rst half of the fi fteenth cen-
remain open to this day. Th is lecture allows your students
tury, allows you to explore many of the themes discussed
to see the relevance of history over time.
in this chapter. The recent six hundredth anniversary of
Zheng He’s command has also launched new research,
museum exhibits, and publications on his accomplish- Renaissance Thought
ments and on the fleet itself. These voyages help illustrate
The Renaissance was built on the intellectual abilities of
the Ming dynasty’s ability to restore order and stability
a few great thinkers. It is appropriate to focus one lecture
in China quickly after the Mongolian occupation and the
on intellectual history and the Renaissance’s main ideas:
devastation of the plague. They illuminate the Middle
secularism, humanism, and individualism. Spend some
Kingdom’s technological superiority with those contem-
time discussing these developing concepts, how ideas are
porary dynasties, including their diplomatic methods
disseminated, and how these particular ideas took hold.
with states in and around the Indian Ocean as compared
Discuss the leaders of the movement and its cultural
to that of the later Portuguese. Finally, by analyzing the
icons, such as Erasmus, who led the shift toward Christian
Ming dynasty’s efforts to expand the tribute system of
humanism; artists such as Giotto, Leonardo da Vinci, and
earlier Chinese dynasties through Zheng He’s explora-
Michaelangelo; the architect Palladio; and also those who
tions, the lecture can offer insights into the Chinese view
paid for everything, such as the Medici family. Discuss
of the Middle Kingdom’s place in the world. Louise Le-
the influence the church had on these new ideas. Finally,
vathes’s When China Ruled the Seas: The Treasure Fleet of
spend some time discussing how, as the Renaissance
the Dragon Throne, 1405–1433 remains a good overview
moved northward, its ideas were shaped and molded to
of the issues involved. Also useful are Hok-lam Chan,
fit different cultures and beliefs. Th is can be a very visual
“The Chien-wen, Yung-lo, Hung-his and Hsuan-te Reigns,
and aural lecture. Use the music of the time and images of
1399–1435,” in Frederick W. Mote and Denis Twitchett,
the paintings and buildings. The Metropolitan Museum
eds., The Cambridge History of China, Vol. 7, The Ming Dy-
of Art provides a good selection of images of architecture
nasty, 1368–1644, Part I; “Starting with China,” in Rob-
and paintings:
ert Marks, Origins of the Modern World; “Woods, Winds,
Shipbuilding, and Shipping—Why China Didn’t Rule the www.metmuseum.org/toah/ht/08/eustc/ht08eustc.
Waves,” in Kenneth Pomeranz and Steven Topik, eds., The htm
World that Trade Created: Society, Culture, and the World
Economy, 1400–Present; Daniel J. Boorstin, “The Chinese
Reach Out: The Maritime Expeditions of Cheng Ho,” CLASS ACTIVITIES
in Lynn H. Nelson and Steven K. Drummond, eds., The Architecture and Group Identity
Human Perspective: Readings in World Civilization, 2nd ed.
When the dynasties of Eurasia emerged out of the after-
For a brief description of the tribute system, see “The Chi-
math of the plague, the new governmental architecture
nese Tribute System,” in Kenneth Pomeranz and Steven
provided ready examples of the worldview and att itudes
Topik, eds., The World that Trade Created.
of the empires’ leadership. Show images of the Topkapi
Palace in Istanbul:
Dar al Islam—Lands Ruled by Islam www.ee.bilkent.edu.tr/~history/topkapi.html
and the Forbidden City
A timely way to organize a lecture out of this chapter is to
use the Safavid Empire as the core theme. Explore the Sa- www.chinavista.com/beijing/gugong/map.html
favids’ relationship with the Ottomans and Sunni Islam, Have students do this as a group to create a supportive
India, and Sufism. Expanding on the troubled relation- atmosphere for discourse. Have students analyze how
ship between the Sunni Ottoman Empire and the Shi’a these buildings might represent the new leadership. They
Safavid Empire begins to clarify the difficulties between should describe specific architectural features and what
Sunni and Shi’ite today that so many students have dif- those features are meant to convey. Then ask them to
ficulty understanding. City names central to today’s wars compare these buildings with modern symbols of empire,
in Afghanistan and Iraq, such as Herat and Baghdad, were such as the government buildings in Washington, DC, or
key to control of the empires in the fi fteenth century as those in Moscow. Have them discuss their answers as a
130 ◆ Chapter 11 Crises and Recovery in Afro-Eurasia, 1300s–1500s
group. Then explore with them why these palaces were
much more impressive than the government structures in
Europe at the time. Th is is a good way to discuss states’
and empires’ worldviews as well as whether the construc-
tion of worldviews is generally grounded in truth and
experience.
Ming Dynasty’s Navy
One way to help students explore the motivations for the
launching and subsequent suspension of Zheng He’s ex-
peditions is to have them explore the decision-making
process themselves. Too often students anticipate the rise
of European naval exploration to such a degree that they
lose sight of the significant events occurring in other parts
of the world. Advise students of the activity in advance so
that they have an opportunity to look for supporting ma-
terials. Have the students form three groups. Allow them
to use their textbooks, the Internet, and other resources.
One group will identify why the voyages occurred and
what they accomplished for the Ming dynasty. The second
group will set up an argument for why the voyages should
continue into the undetermined future. The fi nal group
will argue for why the voyages should be ended. The latter
two groups will need to be prepared to think as if they are
Ming dynasty diplomats reporting to the emperor. Have
them create cohesive reports. With about twenty minutes
left in the class, bring the groups together and let them re-
port on their conclusions. Although you probably won’t
have time for a debate, you should let your students at least
vote on whether they would end the voyages or continue
them. Ultimately the process will give them a better sense
of what was involved in the Ming government’s decision.
The World of Chivalry and Courtly Love
During the transition of life in Europe from the world of
the Crusades through the Black Death and into a period of
uncertainty with a growing middle class and the Renais-
sance, people clung to what was most familiar. The legacy
of chivalry, heraldry, and knighthood, even if only in
name, held fast for the aristocracy and became something
to which the growing middle classes aspired. To help stu-
dents understand the importance of medieval symbolism
as well as the ties of family and class, combine a lecture of
the social structure of aristocratic life, the rules of chiv-
alry and the politics of marriage with the following activ-
ity. It proves very useful and exemplifies the process of
whole-body learning. Students will create their own coats
of arms. Th is is quite complicated because the students
must take into account what colors, shapes, and format
they will use. Each choice carries with it a different mean-
ing. All of their decisions should be based on their family
history, either imagined or real, but students need to be
able to provide a good reason for each decision that they
make. Provide the students with the following Web site or
printouts so that they can make the appropriate choices.
They need to create the shield and provide the reasoning.
It is interesting to let a few students explain their shield
choices if you have the time. But just the act of creating
the shield offers a better sense of the significance of a per-
son’s actions within the family and the multilayered and
unspoken communication so prevalent in the medieval
world. Th is site provides a good explanation for the vari-
ous parts of a shield:
freepages.genealogy.rootsweb.com/~jkmacmul/
heraldry/index.html
RECOMMENDED FILMS
■ Islam: Empire of Faith (2001, 120 min.). This PBS pro-
duction has achieved wide acclaim, and rightly so, in re-
gard to providing a relatively balanced history of Islam,
especially during the medieval period. The focus is on po-
litical and cultural aspects of Islam, not spiritual aspects
of faith. The fi lm compares the differences in development
and interaction between Europe and the Muslim empires.
PBS has provided a Web site with teacher resources that
can be used with the fi lm:
www.pbs.org/empires/islam/
■ Mirror of Kings: Tales from Kalila Wa Dimna (12 min.).
Th is very brief animated adaptation of traditional fables
from India and Arabia was created by the Smithsonian
and is narrated by Omar Sharif. The fables are based on
fourteenth-century Mamluk illuminated manuscripts.
The fables were intended to teach Mamluk princes and
princesses morals and aristocratic behavior.
■ Warrior Collection (4 DVDs). These DVDs are consid-
ered the most important semihistorical fi lms to ever be
made in Korea. All of the stories are set in Ming dynasty,
fourteenth-century China and relay the tense relation-
ship between China and Korea. The fi lms include Bichun-
moo and The Warrior, or Musa. The Warrior is the most
readily available in the United States. Th is visually stun-
ning, historical fiction epic follows a delegation of Korean
diplomats across the desert to the capital of China on a
diplomatic mission to the Chinese capital and the trials
and adventures of the group as they risk the perils of this
inhospitable land. The fi lm has been lauded for its high
degree of historical accuracy, period pieces, and interest-
 Chapter 11 Crises and Recovery in Afro-Eurasia, 1300s–1500s ◆ 131

ingly, the fact that everyone in the fi lm speaks the appro- Richard G. Hovannisian and Georges Sabagh, eds., 2000.
priate native tongue with an interpreter, as they would Religion and Culture in Medieval Islam.
have at the time. Issues that can be highlighted from the Charles Hucker, 1978. The Ming Dynasty: Its Origins and
fi lm are cultural norms; the shift from the Yuan to the Evolving Institutions.
Ming dynasty; the relationships among the Mongols, the Louise Levathes, 1994. When China Ruled the Seas: The
Koreans, and the Chinese; and social mores. Treasure Fleet of the Dragon Throne, 1405–1433.
Robert Marks, 2006. Origins of the Modern World.
■ The Name of the Rose (126 min.). Set in the 1330s, this William McNeill, 1976. Plagues and People.
feature fi lm, fi lled with historical detail, illustrates the
Francis Robinson, ed., 1999. The Cambridge Illustrated
confl ict within the Catholic church resulting from the
History of the Islamic World.
growth of scientific reason and a call for church reform.
Set at a Benedictine monastery, the story revolves around
Fransciscan, Benedictine, and Dominican monks who
WEB SITES
have come together to decide the question of apostolic
poverty. Th is mystery story reflects the confl ict across Chinese Cultural Studies: Images
the continent as Europeans reflected on William Occam’s Multiple images
newly introduced dictum (Occam’s razor) and a general acc6.its.brooklyn.cuny.edu/~phalsall/images.html
movement toward deductive reasoning. You can use por- The End of Europe’s Middle Ages
tions of the fi lm to show the general mood and material Set up to inform students
life of those living in the Middle Ages and to contrast the www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/
lives of churchmen and peasants. An interesting aspect of endmiddle/
the fi lm and the novel on which it is based is the symbol-
ism and multilayered meaning of what is said. Th is shows The Mughals
students the levels of meaning that were built into all as- General information and images
pects of medieval communication. For further analysis of www.wsu.edu:8080/~dee/MUGHAL/
Umberto Eco’s novel of the same name and the historical CONTENTS.HTM
relevance of the symbols and historical figures in the fi lm
Islamic Art: Late Islamic Period and Late Islamic Art
and book see:
General information and images, with numerous links to
www.csuohio.edu/english/nr0index.html. other sources
www.lacma.org/islamic_art/lip.htm
■ Mongol Hordes: Storm from the East Series (46 min. www.lacma.org/islamic_art/lia.htm
each). Th is BBC series was fi rst introduced in 1993. Al-
though new archaeological fi ndings have altered some of The Islamic World to 1600: The Rise of Great Islamic
our knowledge of Mongolian history, it still stands as one Empires
of the most complete. The fi rst video, “Birth of an Empire,” Focus on the rise of the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal
interweaves past and present Mongolian life, providing a Empires
powerful look at the influence modernity has had on this www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/islam/
nomadic empire. Part 2, “World Conquerors,” is most ap- empires/
propriate for this chapter, as it focuses on the expansion of Islamic Spain
the empire beginning with the rule of Chinggis Khan and General information about Spanish Moors
ending with his son Ogodei. Part 3, “Tartar Crusaders,” www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/
expands on the territorial and religious confl icts among spain_1.shtml
Muslims, Christian Crusaders, and Mongolian invaders,
all fighting for the Holy Land. Part 4 is a debate on the The Ming Dynasty’s Maritime History
influence of Kublai Khan in “The Last Khan of Khans.” General information with map
www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/eurvoya/
ming.html
RECOMMENDED READING Mongols and the Islamic World
Robert Bartlett, 1994. The Making of Europe. General information
Patricia Buckley Ebrey, 1999. The Cambridge Illustrated www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/islam/
History of China. mongols/
132 ◆ Chapter 11 Crises and Recovery in Afro-Eurasia, 1300s–1500s

Mongols in World History The Renaissance

Exceptional site on the history of the Mongols
afe.easia.columbia.edu/mongols/
The Black Death
Includes detailed facts, images, and maps
www.insecta-inspecta.com/fleas/bdeath/
Good source for students; includes interactive activities
www.learner.org/exhibits/renaissance/
Sultan’s Lost Treasures
Web site on Ming dynasty and Zheng He; includes
teacher resources
www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sultan/
CH A PTER 12

Contact, Commerce, and

Colonization, 1450s–1600

▶ The Old Trade and the New The Aztec Empire and the Spanish Conquest
Maritime Trade in the Indian Ocean Particularly Aztec Society
Rebounded, Although the Overland Trade Cortés and Conquest
Routes Continued The Incas
Europeans Remained Minor Players in this Trade “The Columbian Exchange”
System, Having Litt le to Offer in Terms of Spain’s Tributary Empire
Goods and Being Isolated Geographically from Silver
the Center of this Trade Regime Portugal’s New World Colony
Portuguese and Spanish Maritime Ventures Began Beginnings of the Transatlantic Slave Trade
to Alter the Status Quo ▶ The Transformation of Europe
The Revival of the Chinese Economy The Habsburgs and the Quest for Universal Empire
Revival of Indian Ocean Trade in Europe
Overland Commerce and Ottoman Expansion The Reformation
▶ European Exploration and Expansion Religious Warfare in Europe
The Portuguese in Africa and Asia ▶ Prosperity in Asia
▶ The Atlantic World Mughal India and Commerce
Westward Voyages of Columbus Prosperity in Ming China
First Encounters Asia’s Relations with Europe
First Conquests

LECTURE OUTLINE B. Maritime trade in the Indian Ocean

Th is chapter explores the early impact of the European
maritime revolution starting in the fi fteenth century. Spe-
cifically, it traces the early development and consequences
of the creation of an Atlantic Ocean system that joined
Western Europe, the Americas, and Africa commercially
and the entry of Europeans into the already thriving In-
dian Ocean system. While Europeans dominated the for-
mer, they were only players in the latter up to this point.
Still, by 1600 the European conquest and colonization
of the Americas was accelerating a shift in economic and
military power from the Eastern Eurasian dynasties to-
ward emerging European nations.
I. The Old Trade and the New
A. Eurasian trade revived strongly in the fi fteenth
century, having collapsed in the wake of the
Black Death during the 1300s
particularly rebounded, although the overland
trade routes continued
C. Europeans remained minor players in this trade
system, having litt le to offer in terms of goods
and being isolated geographically from the
center of this trade regime
D. Portuguese and Spanish maritime ventures
began to alter the status quo
1. Portuguese mariners explored the African
coast and eventually made their way to
India via the southern tip of Africa
2. Spanish kingdoms sponsored Columbus’s
bid to reach Asia by way of the Atlantic
Ocean
E. The revival of the Chinese economy
1. Internal growth in Ming dynasty China
fueled Eurasian commerce
133
134 ◆ Chapter 12 Contact, Commerce, and Colonization, 1450s–1600
a. Capital moved from coast, inland to
Beijing
b. Chinese population doubled during
Ming rule
c. Reconstruction of Grand Canal aided
trade
d. Chinese population doubled during
Ming rule
e. A larger percentage of the population
lived in urban areas
f. Elaborate trade networks developed
2. Domestic production of silk and porcelain
expanded
3. Foreign demand for silk and porcelain
increased
a. Best-quality silks from Suzhou
b. Blue and white Ming ware
4. Foreigners could pay for Chinese products
with silver, the basis of the Ming monetary
system
a. Japan was a major source of silver in the
sixteenth century
b. Increasingly, the Americas became an
important supplier of silver through the
Philippines
F. Revival of Indian Ocean trade
1. Islamic merchants reworked a network of
exchange linking the East African coast,
South Asia, and Southeast Asia to China
2. The Indian subcontinent was the center of
these trade routes
a. Indian population expanded
b. India boasted several large urban
areas
c. India manufactured silk and cotton
textiles
d. Indian merchants sought silver in their
exchanges in order to purchase goods
from China
e. Rulers along Indian Ocean flourished
by taking custom duties on trade
3. Melaka in Southeast Asia emerged as an
important emporium
G. Overland commerce and Ottoman expansion
1. Overland commerce reemerged in some
places
a. One route linked China to Central Asia,
Muscovy, and the Baltic
b. Another linked China and Indian
Ocean ports to the Ottoman Empire
and Europe
c. Aleppo in Syria, part of the Ottoman
Empire, emerged as an important
entrepôt
d. Ottoman Empire encouraged overland
routes by protecting caravans and
providing safe rest stops
i. Revenue from this commerce
helped fi nance Ottoman military
expansion
ii. In 1453, the Ottomans conquered
Constantinople and, making it
their capital, renamed it Istanbul
II. European Exploration and Expansion
A. Many Europeans believed the Ottoman capture
of Constantinople threatened their traditional
overland access to Asian markets
B. The Portuguese in Africa and Asia
1. The Portuguese explored the West African
coast in the fourteenth century
a. They hoped to reach Asia by heading
south
i. They hoped to gain a cut of the
Indian Ocean trade
ii. They also hoped to convert non-
believers
iii. They also hoped to establish
commercial ties with Africans
iv. Africa was a major source of gold
2. Navigation and military developments
a. New technology and borrowed
information aided their ocean voyages
b. They also developed tacking (sailing
against the wind)
c. Using the compass and the astrolabe,
they determined latitude
d. Using Greek and Arab knowledge,
Muslim mariners, and their own
experience, they developed hybrid ships
for long-distance travel
i. The carrack suitable for enclosed
bodies of water
ii. The caravel was better for
unpredictable currents and winds
iii. Often their vessels blended
elements of both
e. Military technology also important
i. Gunpowder from Chinese
ii. Cannons, some small enough to go
on ships
3. Sugar and slaves
 Chapter 12 Contact, Commerce, and Colonization, 1450s–1600 ◆ 135
a. In the fi fteenth century, Africa became a
vital trading area
b. Africa became a source of gold and
sugar
c. The Portuguese established numerous
ports of call and fortresses
d. The Portuguese also occupied several
islands off the coast of Africa and
developed sugar plantations
e. The use of enslaved Africans from
the mainland on the island sugar
plantations became a model that would
be transported to the New World
4. Commerce and conquest in the Indian
Ocean
a. Vasco da Gama was the fi rst to sail to
India
i. Da Gama and later Portuguese
mariners were greatly aided by
Muslim pilots
ii. Indian rulers were not impressed
with his cargo
5. In the sixteenth century the Portuguese
created a trading post empire in the Indian
Ocean
a. They used their ships armed with
cannons to capture several key ports
such as Aden, Hormuz, and Melaka,
Sofala, Kilwa, Goa, and Calicut
b. They used this strategic advantage to set
up a pass system (the cartaz), like a toll
c. Lisbon eclipsed Italian ports as the
prime entry point of Asian goods to
Europe
III. The Atlantic World
A. The development of sea lanes from Europe to
the Americas was an epochal transformation in
world history
1. Diseases brought by Europeans devastated
the indigenous population, opening
up the area to European conquest and
colonization
2. The ensuing labor shortage led Europeans
to bring African slaves to the Americas at
numbers far greater than Europeans
3. Accidental discovery led to resett lement
and conquest
4. The competition for the spoils of the
Atlantic system heightened European
rivalries
B. The westward voyages of Columbus
1. Columbus never accepted that he had
discovered a “New World” in his voyages
to the Americas in the late fi fteenth
century; others, however, soon realized the
significance of his journeys
C. First encounters
1. Columbus’s fi rst encounters with natives in
the Caribbean symbolized the competing
visions of Native Americans held by
Europeans—innocents or savages
a. Encountered Tainos
b. The Caribs were described as warlike
2. We know less about Indian perceptions of
Europeans
a. They were impressed with European
technology
b. They often thought of Europeans as
godlike
c. European beards, breath, and bad
manners often repulsed them
D. First conquests
1. Columbus claimed the island of Hispaniola
for Spain
a. There the Spanish experimented with
governing an American colony
i. They enslaved the Indian
population with the encomienda
system, whereby the crown would
reward conquerors with grants of
land and labor
a. Encomenderos (those granted
the land) had to pay special
taxes on precious metals
extracted from their land
ii. When the gold supply on the island
dwindled, many Spaniards looked
for opportunity elsewhere
iii. Dominican friars trying to convert
the Indians often protested their
treatment by the Spanish
iv. The vast majority of the Indians
died off very quickly
E. The Aztec Empire and the Spanish conquest
1. Aztec Society
a. In Mesoamerica, the Aztec had created
a large, complex empire that embraced
perhaps 25 million people
b. The Aztec state was based on extensive
kinship networks
c. Priests played a powerful role as well
i. The Aztec believed in a cyclical
universe and a coming apocalypse
136 ◆ Chapter 12 Contact, Commerce, and Colonization, 1450s–1600
ii. Captives were sacrificed to the
gods
d. From 1440 onward, the Aztec Empire
was under stress
i. Conquered people on the
periphery were rebelling
F. Cortés and conquest
1. Hernan Cortés arrived in early sixteenth
century
a. Aztec ruler Moctezuma and his
ministers feared Cortés and his men
were the god Quetzalcoátl and his
entourage and sent emissaries to
distract them, but made litt le effort to
fortify the empire
b. Doña Marina, a daughter of a local
Indian noble farmer, was the key to
translating between Aztecs and
Spanish
2. Cortés made alliances with aggrieved
Aztec enemies
3. Cortés entered the Aztec capital,
Tenochtitlán, in 1519 and captured
Moctezuma, who then ruled as a Spanish
puppet
4. The Aztecs rose in rebellion two years later
but were defeated by the Spanish and their
allies
a. Spanish had more advanced
technology
b. Aztecs fought to capture, not to kill
c. Diseases brought over by the Spanish
wiped out much of the Aztec population
and made resistance all the more
difficult
d. Cortés became governor of the colony
“New Spain”
G. The Incas
1. From capital of Cuzco, Incas governed an
empire of 4 to 6 million
a. As Spanish arrived, internal strife over
inheritance of empire
b. Smallpox epidemic struck
2. Led by Francisco Pizarro the Spanish take
advantage of internal confl ict to conquer
the Incas in 1532
3. After conquest, Spanish establish their
capital in Lima
4. Spanish fight over spoils of the empire
H. “The Columbian Exchange”
1. Spanish conquest of the Americas initiated
a massive exchange of flora and fauna
between the Afro-Eurasian land mass and
the Americas
a. From the Americas came tomatoes,
beans, and other crops
b. From the rest of the world to the
Americas came wheat, sugarcane, and
livestock
i. Without natural predators, catt le,
swine, and horses thrived in the
Americas
ii. Indeed, the altering of the
American landscape can be called
“ecological imperialism”
c. Most devastating were diseases brought
to the Americas by Europeans
i. Smallpox, measles, pneumonic
plague, and influenza were
especially devastating
ii. Up to 90 percent of the indigenous
population was wiped out
I. Spain’s tributary empire
1. The Spanish tapped into existing
commercial systems, not completely
dismantling the indigenous empires they
inherited
a. They continued the encomiendas, which
built on previous Aztec and Incan labor
conscription systems
2. Few Spanish women emigrated to the
Americas
a. Spanish men consorted with native
women
b. Many Spaniards married into
prominent Indian families
3. Most Spaniards and their offspring lived in
towns
4. The Spanish quickly plundered the gold
and silver of the Aztec and Incan empires
5. Silver
a. In the sixteenth century, the mines at
Potosí in the Andes were the largest
source of silver
b. In the seventeenth century, Mexico
became the prime source of silver
c. The Spanish adopted indigenous labor
conscription schemes to mine the silver
i. Mortality rates in the mines were
appalling
J. Portugal’s New World colony
1. Portuguese created enclaves along coast
a. Unlike Spanish, the Portuguese rarely
intermarried
 Chapter 12 Contact, Commerce, and Colonization, 1450s–1600 ◆ 137
2. When no precious metals were discovered
in Brazil, the Portuguese began to raise
sugarcane in the fertile fields
a. When the Indian population fled, the
Portuguese imported African slaves to
produce the crop
i. Most slaves were men who died off
relatively quickly, necessitating the
importation of more slaves
3. Sugar plantations
a. Labor model came from West Africa
island plantations
b. Sugar major export from New World
c. Plantation fairly small, between sixty to
one hundred enslaved people
d. Terrible work and living conditions led
to high mortality and need for constant
imports of more enslaved Africans
4. Th is development provided an alternative
model to colonization and exploitation to
the Spanish tributary empire
K. Beginnings of the transatlantic slave trade
1. The growth of the slave and sugar trade
were intimately linked
2. Africa supplied five times as many peoples
to the Americas as Europe between 1492
and 1820
3. Many European merchants participated in
the slave trade
4. Trade in African slaves predated the
Europeans
a. Arab and Muslim traders transported
large numbers of slaves to Muslim
centers of civilization starting in the
seventh century
b. Africans also maintained slaves
themselves
i. Because of underpopulation and
poor climate and soils, labor was a
precious commodity
ii. Slaves in Africa were often not
consigned to permanent servitude;
they often were assimilated into
families
5. The Atlantic slave trade intensified
demand for Africans; very few areas of the
continent were untouched
IV. The Transformation of Europe
A. The emergence of the linkages between Africa,
the Americas, and Europe deepened divisions
in Europe
B. The Habsburgs and the quest for universal
empire in Europe
1. Initially the emergence of the Atlantic
system strengthened the Habsburg dynasty
that ruled Spain
2. Other rivals quickly tried to tap into this
source of wealth and power
a. The English crown sponsored pirates to
seize Spanish cargo in the Atlantic
i. Sir Francis Drake was the most
famous of these
b. English provocations precipitated
naval warfare between the English and
the Spanish, with the English coming
out on top in the defeat of the Spanish
Armada in 1588
C. The Reformation
1. The Protestant Reformation furthered
emerging rivalries in Europe
2. Martin Luther, a German monk,
spearheaded this movement against papal
authority in the early sixteenth century
a. Luther criticized corruption in the
church and preached that salvation
came through individual faith alone
b. His words spread by the printing press
and converts, Luther challenged the
Catholic church’s primacy in Western
Europe’s religious affairs
i. Luther’s ideas gained a strong
following in Germany and
northern Europe
ii. John Calvin, who modified many
of Luther’s teachings, developed
a strong following in Switzerland,
the Netherlands, France, and
Scotland
iii. Tudor kings in England developed
a moderate blending of Protestant
and Catholic beliefs—Anglicanism
iv. Many of these new Protestant
sects developed animosity toward
each other as well as toward the
Catholic church
3. The Catholic church responded with the
Counter-Reformation
a. The church worked to end corruption
b. Church doctrine gave greater emphasis
to individual spirituality
c. Society of Jesus (Jesuits) formed to
revive the church and spread its message
around the world
138 ◆ Chapter 12 Contact, Commerce, and Colonization, 1450s–1600
D. Religious warfare in Europe
1. The religious fervor of the sixteenth
century precipitated numerous bloody
wars
a. These wars were accompanied by
atrocities committed by both sides
against one another
2. The wars weakened the Habsburg dynasty
a. Spain spent much of its American silver
on the wars
b. The Protestant Netherlands successfully
revolted and achieved independence
from Spanish control
3. The wars helped bring an end to the Valois
dynasty in France and led to the emergence
of a stronger dynasty—the Bourbons
a. France was wracked by civil war, as
exemplified by the St. Bartholomew’s
Day Massacre, in which thousands of
Protestants were massacred by Catholic
crowds
b. Henry IV initiated the Bourbon
dynasty with an emphasis on domestic
peace
4. The wars helped strengthen England and
Holland, as they could expand commercial
networks around the world at the expense
of Spain
5. The wars also strengthened emerging
national identities
V. Prosperity in Asia
A. The conquest of the Americas gave
Europeans the means to reshape relations with
Asia
1. Portugal took the lead in establishing a
maritime empire in the Indian Ocean and
the South China Sea
a. The Portuguese became important
shippers in the Indian Ocean and
between the Atlantic and Indian
Oceans
2. The Spanish monopoly of American
silver allowed them to enter into Asian
commerce
a. The port of Manila in the Philippines
became an important entrepôt where
New World silver was exchanged for
Chinese manufactured goods
3. Other European powers such as the
English, the French, and the Dutch soon
entered the fray
B. Mughal India and commerce
1. As Europeans entered into the commerce
of the Indian Ocean, the Mughal dynasty
was one of the world’s wealthiest and most
powerful empires
a. Mughal power rested on military
strength
i. They used cavalry and artillery
to subdue most of the Indian
subcontinent
2. Mughal rulers were flexible in their
dealings with the diverse people of their
realm
a. Akbar tolerated religious differences
and even married non-Muslim wives
b. Akbar took part in discussions of
comparative religions
i. Debate took place in his Din-i-Iladi
(House of Worship)
3. The Mughals benefited from increased
Indian Ocean commerce
a. Increased commerce brought in
more silver and reinforced the use of
money
b. European commercial networks
expanded the markets for Indian
products and provided greater access
to imports without threatening the
territorial integrity of the empire
c. Greater commercialization allowed
Mughals to reform imperial fi nances,
weakening the power of zamindars, or
tribute collectors
i. They began to collect taxes in
money, not goods
ii. Zamindars were paid a fee instead
of a share in taxes collected
4. Mughal rulers used newfound wealth
to sponsor impressive artwork and
monumental feats of architecture
C. Prosperity in Ming China
1. China’s Ming dynasty experienced similar
patterns to those in Mughal India during
the sixteenth century
a. New World silver flowed into China
b. Employees paid in money, not goods
c. Agriculture and handicraft production
soared
d. Constraints on borrowing and lending
eased
2. Ming China’s population soared due to
economic prosperity
 Chapter 12 Contact, Commerce, and Colonization, 1450s–1600 ◆ 139
a. Several cities had a population of over
one million
D. Asia’s relations with Europe
1. Europeans appeared more often in China
during the sixteenth century
2. Portuguese took lead
3. There were one thousand Portuguese in
Macao in 1563
4. Jesuits and other Catholic orders sent
missionaries to evangelize
5. Like the Mughals, the Ming confi ned
Europeans for the most part to coastal
enclaves
VI. Conclusion
A. In the middle of the fi fteenth century, the world
had many different regional trading spheres.
European exploration and innovation changed
all of that by 1600. By then, Europeans had
developed sea lanes that linked the world.
B. The accidental discovery of the Americas
increased European wealth and power through
the creation of an Atlantic Ocean system
linking Africa, the Americas, and Europe.
C. The newfound wealth afforded them greater
influence in Asia. Although they were in no
position to dominate Asian affairs, by 1600
the balance of power was moving toward the
western portion of Eurasia.
D. Native Americans and African slaves played a
significant role in making the modern world.
Harsh labor conditions and disease took their
toll on the indigenous people and enslaved
Africans.
LECTURE IDEAS
Compare and Contrast Political Powers
Comparing and contrasting the Portuguese empire and
the Mughal dynasty in the sixteenth century highlights
several themes from this chapter. First and foremost, it
illustrates how European powers such as Portugal were
in no position to challenge non-European Eurasian pow-
ers for supremacy in their sphere of influence. Second, it
helps explore how much of the Portuguese empire was
based on the “trading post” model. Portugal’s power in
the Indian Ocean derived from the control of key ports,
not large pieces of territory. Maritime trade generated
wealth for the crown. The Mughal dynasty, by contrast,
expanded the amount of territory it controlled in South
Asia. Th is generated more land to tax. It also encouraged
greater commerce, both internal and with foreigners
such as the Portuguese. Both models were successful, as
both regimes saw their influence increase in the sixteenth
century. For information see Subrahmanyam, Sanjay,
The Portuguese Empire in Asia 1500–1700 (1993); Stan-
ley Wolpert, A New History of India, 4th ed. (1993); and
Ashin Das Gupta and M. N. Pearson, eds., India and the
Indian Ocean, 1500–1800 (1987). Several essays in James
T. Tracy, The Political Economy of Merchant Empires (1991)
are also useful.
Trading Sea Routes in the East and West
A lecture that juxtaposes the trading regime emerging in
the Atlantic Ocean with that in the Indian Ocean in the
sixteenth century can reinforce to students the issues
of contact, commerce, and colonization and how these
forces shaped world history in this period. European gov-
ernments and merchants forged the Atlantic system. It
linked western Europe, West Africa, and the Americas in
a dynamic web of exchange. It dramatically reconfigured
social and economic structures in the Americas through
European colonization and conquest and brought West
Africans into greater sustained contact with international
market forces, the emergence of the Atlantic slave trade
being the most obvious example. The Indian Ocean sys-
tem, by contrast, had thrived in one form or another for
centuries. In this part of the world, Europeans became
one player among many, not the dominant force, in the
sixteenth century. Nevertheless, the European presence
in both areas quickly linked the two systems. Wealth from
the Americas, particularly plundered silver, helped Euro-
peans acquire, in the Indian Ocean system, goods such as
textiles, spices, and porcelain. Thus, changes in one area
could increasingly affect the other. For information on
the Atlantic system, Philip D. Curtin’s essay “The Tropical
Atlantic in the Age of the Slave Trade” from the American
Historical Association’s Essays on Global and Comparative
History is a nice concise summary. For the Indian Ocean,
see Patricia Risso, Merchants and Faith: Muslim Commerce
and Culture in the Indian Ocean (1995).
Sugar Plantations
The fi rst three chapters of Philip D. Curtin’s Rise and Fall
of the Plantation Complex, 2nd ed. (1998) provide the
framework for a lecture on the rise of the sugar planta-
tions on the Atlantic islands off the coast of Africa. Here
Europeans developed a plantation system that they later
imported to the Americas.
140 ◆ Chapter 12 Contact, Commerce, and Colonization, 1450s–1600
The Virgin Queen Centralizing Her Power
The motion picture Elizabeth is a useful tool for reinforc-
ing that the sixteenth century was still very much a period
when European monarchies were centralizing authority
at home. Use a portion of the fi lm to facilitate students’
thinking on the topic. Provide them with open-ended
questions, such as those listed below, prior to showing the
clip to stimulate their involvement in the lecture. The fi nal
twenty minutes of the fi lm highlight the obstacles Eliza-
beth overcame in order to secure a stable throne. In partic-
ular, Elizabeth triumphed over divisions at home brought
on by the Reformation and the meddling of the Spanish
and French royal families. England was in no position to
expand its influence around the world in the sixteenth
century, but Elizabeth’s reign paved the way for future in-
fluence. Following the fi lm clip, you can discuss the role
of marriage, which remained a political one, furthering
ongoing familial connections within royal families. Did
they help or hinder diplomacy? How did Elizabeth over-
come the obstacles put before her? Did she use old ties
and forms of connection or did she herald the movement
into the modern world by fi nding a way to centralize her
government? Spend the remaining time expanding on the
scene, providing context and explaining the machinations
of diplomacy and the court.
CLASS ACTIVITIES
Global Trading
Although European explorers and merchants were the
catalysts for the increased interaction between world so-
cieties in this chapter, it is often difficult for students to
avoid concluding that the sixteenth century marked the
beginning of an age of European hegemony. An interac-
tive activity can help reinforce the idea that much of the
contact and commerce explored in this chapter was con-
ducted on the terms of the peoples the Europeans encoun-
tered as much as on European terms, the Americas being
the huge exception. Assign students into five groups: Eu-
ropean merchants, people in West African kingdoms, the
Mughal emperor and his advisers, the Ming emperor and
his advisers, and the Ottoman emperor and his advisers.
Have them research beforehand the products they could
export, the goods they value and might want to import,
their belief systems and how open they might be to other
faiths or worldviews, and their military capabilities. Spend
one class conducting the following activity: Have the Eu-
ropean merchants group negotiate with each of the oth-
ers an agreement for trade and missionization. At the end
of class, students should see that Europeans had very few
products to offer these other societies beyond silver and
that their efforts to spread Christianity were for the most
part unwelcome.
The Impact of the Columbian Exchange
The idea of the Columbian Exchange is an important one.
It becomes particularly relevant once your students real-
ize how much of their lives are affected by this exchange
of organisms. Provide them with a handout on the variety
of exchanges. A good source can be found at:
nationalhumanitiescenter.org
Summarize or ask them to read the material together;
it is not long and offers relevant material regarding his-
torical and present-day comparisons. Then ask them to
list the items they had for breakfast. If they didn’t have
breakfast, what did they have for dinner? Write every-
thing down. Then classify the ingredients as originating
in the Old World or the New World. Th is isn’t as easy as
it sounds. Where do eggs come from? Where does wheat
come from, or cows, oats, tomatoes, and so on? Then con-
sider how these staple foods changed the world. Which
were most influential? Finally, ask students to name the
domesticated animal that came from the Americas. Th is
leaves them struggling, because there is no well-domesti-
cated animal. The answer is the llama and the alpaca, but
most students will not know. Their knowledge gap alone
helps create stronger memory.
Three Empires, Three Continents
Th is chapter concludes by juxtaposing the Ottoman
conquest of Constantinople in 1453 with the Spanish
conquest of Tenochtitlán in 1520. You can enhance this
dialogue and critical analysis for students by adding
Zheng He’s earlier conquest of the lands around the In-
dian Ocean for the Ming dynasty. The manner in which
the Chinese declared control of these territories and man-
aged them through the tribute system offers students a
strong contrast in diplomatic style and policy making.
Further discussion of the three empires, drawing on their
relative strengths regarding military might (gunpowder)
and economic stability (silver) reinforces for students that
at this time the Europeans were only just entering the
world as global players. They had no decided advantage
over other Eurasian dynasties. Thus, Europeans were in
no position to challenge the supremacy of other Eurasian
powers when they came into greater contact with them.
The opposite was true when it came to the dynasties of the
Americas. Indeed, Europeans were able to begin coloniz-
ing the Americas in the sixteenth century. Exploitation of
 Chapter 12 Contact, Commerce, and Colonization, 1450s–1600 ◆ 141
the natural resources, mainly silver, allowed them to ex-
pand commerce with other Eurasian powers. Have your
students create a list with three columns, one for each
empire and conquest. They can record the specific charac-
teristics of each conquest in the columns and then make
comparisons across the three.
Games
Games are an inseparable part of a culture and greatly
reflect the political, military, and cultural forces of a
people. The true origins of the game of chess, or as it was
called originally shatranj, are unclear. It most likely de-
veloped in what is today northern India around the sixth
or seventh centuries ce. The only early extant literature
about chess is Islamic; it provides us with the game’s
rules (850 ce). The spread of Islam to Spain brought the
game to Europe, and from there it spread rapidly. The
word chess may have derived from the word shah or king,
and the word checkmate from shah mat, meaning “the
king is dead.” As the game spread, the pieces and rules
were modified to fit the changing society in Europe.
Europeans wanted the game to move more quickly, so
they altered the number of moves a pawn could make.
Let your students look at the game pieces and the board
and consider the changes to the game. If you used the
earlier Viking game (hnefatafl) with the class, you can
connect that game with chess to reinforce the lessons
here. The most important changes in chess from medi-
eval Islamic countries to medieval European countries
were in regard to the pieces that changed from counselor
to queen and elephant to bishop. The counselor in sha-
tranj, formerly a weak piece, became the queen—the
strongest piece in chess. The alfi l/fi l moved two squares
at a time but became the far-ranging chess bishop. Why
did the queen become so much more powerful than the
counselor? And why is the queen more powerful than
the king? What cultural and political environment al-
lowed this change to be plausible? Physical chessboards
for students to look at and move the pieces around with
and the ability to discuss this will help them work out
these questions. Encourage them to dig deep and to
think about the context of the period. For more informa-
tion on the history of the game of chess look at the Birth
of the Chess Queen: A History, by Marilyn Yalom.
Historical Transitions in Chess Pieces
Modern Equivalent King Queen
Persian Version Shah Farzin
Arabic Shan Firzan
Translation of Persian and Arabic King Counselor (later vizier)
RECOMMENDED FILMS
■ Columbus and the Age of Discovery (seven parts, each
58 min.). Th is series was produced by PBS and WGBH.
It was nominated for an Emmy and continues to be used
widely in the classroom. The fi rst in the series, “Colum-
bus’s World,” provides the context for his discoveries, dis-
cussing the Ming dynasty, the Spice Islands, the Ottoman
Empire, the Venetian merchants, and other important
historical details. Part 2, “An Idea Takes Shape,” details
the technical aspects of preparing for the trip, from ship-
building to navigational tools to the struggle for funding.
In “The Crossing,” the producers used three full-scale
working replicas to follow Columbus’s route according to
his logs. Part 4 starts with his fi rst landfall, “Worlds Found
and Lost.” Part 5, “Sword and Cross,” attempts to show the
evolution of the Americas after European contact, namely
in terms of cultural changes, motivations, and disease.
You can use Part 6, “Columbian Exchange,” to reinforce
the activity in this chapter, as it examines the interchange
of the two worlds. The fi nal episode, “In Search of Colum-
bus,” wraps up the series and summarizes the impact that
Columbus’s claim for Spain had on the world. A study
guide for secondary education that can be modified for
college courses is available at:
www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sq1/
content_strorage_01/0000019b/80/15/70/bb.pdf
Each of these can be used as discrete videos.
■ Cross and Crescent (53 min.). This film provides a good
overview of the Hapsburgs as they reached the peak of
their power during the reign of Charles V. It considers all
aspects of society during the sixteenth century as the em-
pire moved into the Reformation and struggled to control
the ensuing maelstrom of war across Europe. The confl icts
led into the Th irty Years War, the advance of the Ottoman
Empire, and ultimately, the collapse of Habsburg power,
changing Europe forever.
■ Revolution of Conscience: The Life, Convictions, and
Legacy of Martin Luther (56 min.). Th is documentary
chronicles Martin Luther’s life using a variety of primary
documents and expert analysis. Not only does it provide a
strong historical timeline, it also expands on many of the
theological questions of the day, questions that had origi-
nally led Luther to post his famous 95 theses on the doors
Bishop Knight Rook Pawn
Pil Asp Rook Pujada
Fil Faras Rukh Baidaq
Elephant Horse Champion Foot soldier
142 ◆ Chapter 12 Contact, Commerce, and Colonization, 1450s–1600

of the cathedral at Wittenberg. From the video, you can WEB SITES
explore multiple lecture angles regarding the Reforma-
tion and the subsequent religious warfare that consumed 1492: An Ongoing Voyage
Europe. Basic information of Americas exploration, good images
of calendars and maps
■ The Spanish Reconquista (53 min.). This documentary www/ibiblio.org/expo/1492exhibit/Intro.html
recounts the long struggle of the Spanish Christians to
retake Spain from the Muslims. It is a visually beautiful The Columbian Exchange
fi lm, tracing the Christian pilgrimage that led the struggle Discussion of historical impact of exchange from
against Islamic control, the route of Santiago de Compos- scientific perspective
tela. The fi lm ends at the last Muslim stronghold, Granada. nationalhumanitiescenter.org/tserve/natt rans/
You can use this fi lm to help your students understand the ntecoindian/essays/colombian.htm
crusading fervor that explorers and priests felt when they Index of Renaissance Maps
began their conversions in newfound lands, the alliance of Collection of maps
Castille y Leon and Aragon, and, ultimately, the creation www.henry-davis.com/MAPS/Ren/Ren1/Reno.
of a single Christian nation. html
Latin America and the Conquistadors
RECOMMENDED READING General history of the fi rst encounters
Carlo Cipolla, 1965. Guns, Sails, and Empires: www.ucalgary.ca/applied_history/tutor/eurvoya/
Technological Innovation and the Early Phases of Latin.html
European Expansion, 1400–1700. Latitude
Alfred W. Crosby, 1973. The Columbian Exchange: Art and science of navigation
Biological and Cultural Consequences. www.ruf.rice.edu/~feegi/
, 1999. Ecological Imperialism: The Biological
Manas: India and Its Neighbors: The Mughal Empire
Expansion of Europe, 900–1900.
General history
J. H. Elliot, 2002. Imperial Spain: 1469–1716.
www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/Mughals/
Robert B. Marks, 2006. Origins of the Modern World.
mughals.html
Miguel Leon-Portilla, 1992. The Broken Spears: The Aztec
Account of the Conquest of Mexico. Ottoman Traders Guild
William D. Phillips Jr. and Carla Rahn Phillips, 1992. The A reenactor’s site with basic information about the
Worlds of Christopher Columbus. formation of caravan trading
David Ringrose, 2000. Expansion and Global Interaction: www.ottoman-traders.com/
1200–1700.
The Wars of Religion
A. J. R. Russell-Wood, 1998. The Portuguese Empire: A
Good overview with map of wars of religion
World on the Move.
www.lepg.org/wars.htm
Stuart Schwartz, ed., 1994. Implicit Understandings:
Observing, Reporting, and Reflecting on the Encounters
between Europeans and Other Peoples in the Early
Modern Era.
Tzevetan Todorov and Richard Howard, 1999. The
Conquest of America: The Question of the Other, 2nd
ed.
Marilyn Yalom, 2005. Birth of the Chess Queen: A History.
CH A PTER 13
Worlds Entangled,
1600–1750
▶ Increasing Economic Linkages and Social and Political
Effects
▶ Extracting Wealth: Mercantilism
▶ New Colonies in the Americas
Holland’s Trading Colonies
France’s Fur-Trading Empire
England’s Landed Empire
The Plantation Complex in the Caribbean
▶ The Slave Trade and Africa
Capturing and Shipping Slaves
Slavery’s Gender Imbalance
Africa’s New Slave-Supplying Polities
▶ Asia in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
The Dutch in Southeast Asia
Transformations in Islam
The Safavid Empire under Assault
The Transformation of Ottoman Empire
The Mughal Empire
LECTURE OUTLINE
From 1600 to 1750, world trade both expanded and be-
came more highly integrated. An ever-wider amount and
type of goods were exchanged across the globe. None
was more important than New World silver, which gave
Europeans a commodity that they could exchange for
Asian products. These ever-tightening circuits of trade
had diverse effects on different regions and their rela-
tions with each other. In the Americas, Europeans con-
solidated their hold over larger portions of territory, but
new colonial powers entered the fray. Increasingly sugar
and other agricultural commodities grew in importance
in the Americas, necessitating the importation of more
and more African slaves. The expansive Atlantic slave
trade further shaped political developments in Africa
below the Saharan desert. The wealth from the Atlantic
Ocean system further strengthened certain European
nations’ commercial and military strength. In Asia, in-
From Ming to Qing in China
Administrative Problems
Economic Problems
Collapse of Ming Authority
The Qing Dynasty Asserts Control
Expansion and Trade under the Qing
Tokugawa, Japan
Unification of Japan
Foreign Affairs and Foreigners
▶ Transformations of Europe
Expansions and Dynastic Chaos in Russia
Economic and Political Fluctuations in Western
Europe
The Th irty Years’ War
Western European Economies
Dynastic Monarchies: France and England
Mercantilist Wars
creased wealth resulting from rising global commerce
undermined several dynasties’ strength, leading to either
collapse or severe weakening of power. Global connec-
tions increasingly altered more peoples’ lives around the
world and directly contributed to the rise and fall of new
and old polities.
I. Increasing Economic Linkages and Social and
Political Effects
A. Transoceanic trade mainly affected mercantile
groups
B. The deepening of connections across different
economic regions increasingly challenged
rulers and altered the lives of common people
C. Economic integration weakened some rulers
while strengthening others
II. Extracting Wealth: Mercantilism
A. The lucrative mining ventures in Spanish
and Portuguese colonies in the New World
143
144 ◆ Chapter 13 Worlds Entangled, 1600–1750
led other European powers to seek similar
opportunities in the seventeenth century
B. These latecomers did not discover mineral
wealth but instead exploited the fertile land to
raise cash crops such as sugarcane, tobacco,
indigo, and rice, as well as negotiating with
Indians to establish a profitable fur trade
1. Sugar transformed the European diet
2. Public tooth pulling became a popular
entertainment
C. These adventures in the Americas led
Europeans to create a new economic
philosophy—“mercantilism”
1. Th is doctrine presumed the world’s wealth
was fi xed and that one country’s wealth
came at another’s expense
2. It assumed that colonies existed to enrich
the motherland
3. Colonies existed to generate wealth for the
motherland and were forbidden to trade
with the motherland’s competitors
III. New colonies in the Americas
A. Holland’s trading colonies
1. In the early seventeenth century, the
Dutch East India Company founded a
colony centered on the Hudson River in
North America that initiated a thriving
fur trade with the Iroquois Indian
Confederation
2. In 1621, Dutch merchants had formed the
Dutch West India Company to promote
commerce in the Atlantic Ocean and
promote Dutch participation in the slave
trade
3. Although the Dutch never established
an elaborate colonial presence in the
Americas, they were able to profit from an
extensive carrying trade across the Atlantic
during the seventeenth century
a. The Dutch were often referred to as
“universal carriers”
B. France’s fur-trading empire
1. French adventurers explored the St.
Lawrence River valley and the Great Lakes
in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries
2. In the early seventeenth century, Samuel
de Champlain founded the colony of New
France in the St. Lawrence River valley
a. With relatively few sett lers, the French
established a thriving fur trade with
Native Americans
b. Th is “colonization without conquest”
stretched France’s empire deep into
North America
C. England’s landed empire
1. Unlike the French, England’s colonists
established expansive agrarian sett lements
along the Atlantic seaboard of North
America
a. Relations with Indians were thus more
confrontational
2. Protestant dissenters colonized New
England
a. They fought brutal wars with Indians in
the 1630s and 1670s
3. Farther south, the Virginia Company
fostered the growth of a tobacco colony in
the Chesapeake
a. English sett lers batt led Indians for most
of the century
4. By 1700, 250,000 European sett lers lived
in English mainland North American
colonies along with 150,000 African slaves;
three quarters lived in the Caribbean
Islands
D. The plantation complex in the Caribbean
1. In the seventeenth century, the Portuguese
sugarcane plantation model was extended
into the English and French possessions in
the Caribbean
2. Because of the decimation of the Indian
population in the previous century, African
slaves made up the vast majority of the
population on these islands
3. Sugar was a “killing” crop
a. It flourished in hot and humid
climates that fostered diseases to
which even Africans had no natural
immunities
b. European plantation owners rarely lived
on their plantations, leaving managers
to run them
i. These managers tended to work
slaves to death
ii. Sugar production included
planting, harvesting, and
manufacturing
iii. Rarely were slaves afforded
proper housing and
nutrition
iv. The average life expectancy for a
slave who survived the Atlantic
passage was three years

c. Slaves resisted as they could
i. There were a few incidents of
armed insurrection
ii. A more common form of resistance
was fl ight
a. Slaves founded sanctuary
“maroon” communities in the
highlands
iii. The most common form of
resistance was subterfuge in daily
work
d. No one colonial power dominated the
Caribbean plantation complex
i. The wealthiest colony was the
French Saint Domingue
IV. The slave trade and Africa
A. During the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries, far more Africans than Europeans
migrated to the Americas
B. Capturing and shipping slaves
1. Europeans grafted onto an existing
system
2. Roughly 12 million slaves were shipped to
Atlantic ports from the 1440s to 1867
3. The capture and transportation of
slaves to the African coastal entrepôts
were conducted by African commercial
networks
a. In the Bight of Biafra, the tradition of
“pawnship” or the use of human “pawns”
to secure European commodities in
advance of the delivery of slaves was
used by European merchants
i. A secret male society called “Ekpe”
enforced payments of promised
slave deliveries
4. Slaves were treated horribly
a. Most died before ever leaving Africa
i. They were stuck for long periods in
fi lthy holding camps
ii. They were held in wretched
conditions on slave vessels for
extended periods of time
b. Roughly 20 percent of all slaves did not
survive the Atlantic passage
C. Slavery’s gender imbalance
1. Slave trade led to gender-ratio imbalances
in Africa and America
a. European traders preferred males, and
African sellers desired to keep women
as domestic workers
Chapter 13 Worlds Entangled, 1600–1750 ◆ 145
2. Imbalance of gender ratio in the New World
meant little reproduction and a need for
continued purchases to increase labor force
3. Male slaves outnumbered female in the
New World, but in slave-supplying regions
the opposite was true
4. Female-slave labor plantations developed
in parts of Africa
5. Polygyny reinforced because of gender-
ratio imbalance
6. Dahomean women asserted more power
and authority because of their numbers
D. Africa’s new slave-supplying polities
1. In some parts of Africa, the slave trade
wreaked havoc
a. Feuding to control the lucrative trade
resulted in civil war in the Kongo
Kingdom after 1665
b. Slavers became increasingly proficient
with European fi rearms and easily
captured many slaves from targeted
populations
2. The slave trade also helped some merchants
and warlords to consolidate and extend
political power
a. Certain mercantile groups in central
and west Africa grew wealthier
b. Long-distance trade networks fostered
the growth of strong state systems
i. The Asante state encompassed
250,000 square miles in West
Africa and displaced local political
organizations
ii. The Oyo empire performed a
similar feat, linking commercial
networks in tropical rain forests to
the savannah areas to the north in
West Africa
iii. Both states benefited from access
to European fi rearms
3. Although the slave trade enriched and
empowered some Africans, it cost Africa
dearly
a. The Atlantic commercial system shifted
wealth from the countryside to urban
areas
b. Many areas suffered severe population
loss
V. Asia in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries
A. Europeans were not so dominant in Asian trade
networks as they were in the Atlantic world; yet
146 ◆ Chapter 13 Worlds Entangled, 1600–1750
by 1750 parts of Asia were beginning to feel the
brunt of growing European military, political,
and economic power
B. The Dutch in Southeast Asia
1. The Dutch government chartered the
Dutch East India Company (VOC) in 1602
to challenge the Portuguese and Spanish
influence in the Indian Ocean system
a. Because of Amsterdam’s fi nancial
strength, the VOC was able to raise
more capital than any of its European
competitors
b. The VOC’s goal was to achieve a trade
monopoly wherever it could
i. In the 1620s, the VOC seized
the city of Jakarta (which they
renamed Batavia) on the island of
Java and the nutmeg-producing
islands known as Banda and
proceeded to monopolize the
nutmeg trade
ii. The VOC went on to capture the
cities of Melaka and Banten in an
effort to control the entire spice
trade in Southeast Asia
iii. Chinese and English merchants
continued to compete with the
VOC and it never achieved the
monopoly it sought
c. To avoid using bullion, the VOC
became involved in inter-Asian trade
such as sending textiles from India
or copper from Japan to markets in
Southeast Asia
d. Old cosmopolitan Asian cities were
eclipsed by new European outposts
C. Transformations in Islam
1. The Safavid Empire under assault
a. The Safavid dynasty foundered in the
eighteenth century for several reasons
i. Weak rulers allowed chaos to
emerge
ii. Afghan warriors attacked and
invaded the empire
2. The transformation of the Ottoman Empire
a. When the territorial expansion of
the empire slowed in the seventeenth
century, intellectuals in the Ottoman
Empire became concerned that the
empire was in decline
b. A succession of weak rulers created a
sense of crisis
c. The inflow of American silver into
Ottoman commercial networks
destabilized the empire
i. Merchants increasingly defied
commercial regulations and
traded commodities such as wheat,
copper, and wool to Europeans for
silver; this reduced the amount of
goods available in the Ottoman
Empire
ii. Th is illegal trade did not enrich
the imperial coffers, and the
government had to resort to deficit
spending
iii. Deficits, shortages, and the inflow
of silver sparked inflation
a. In the late sixteenth and early
seventeenth centuries, artisans
and peasants revolted in what
were called the Celali revolts
against the state
b. Th is instability led many
regions of the empire to seek
more autonomy
i. Egypt, the wealthiest
province, achieved
virtual autonomy by the
seventeenth century
d. Financial reforms taken by the Koprulu
family, who controlled the office of
grand vizier, arrested the fi nancial
difficulties in the middle of the
seventeenth century
i. In the 1680s the Ottomans once
again threatened central Europe
e. By the end of the seventeenth century,
the Ottomans had lost Hungary and
talk of decline had begun once again
3. The Mughal Empire
a. The Mughal Empire continued to
expand its territory in the Indian
subcontinent, but by the end of the
seventeenth century the dynasty found
it increasingly difficult to rule effectively
over such a large and diverse realm
b. The Mughals encouraged foreign
commerce, but never opted to become
a naval power or expand their territory
overseas
i. In the seventeenth century, the
empire prospered as European
demand for Indian products,
 Chapter 13 Worlds Entangled, 1600–1750 ◆ 147
especially cotton textiles, increased
dramatically
ii. Imported silver fueled economic
growth
iii. Indian farmers also adopted
New World crops that increased
agricultural production and helped
sustain a large population surge
c. Increased population and wealth,
however, empowered regional and local
rulers who increasingly demanded more
autonomy
d. Under Aurangzeb (1658–1707), the
Mughals continued to expand their
territory in southern India, which
drained the treasury
i. Aurangzeb raised taxes and
imposed additional taxes on non-
Muslims
e. After Aurangzeb’s death, there were
widespread revolts against central
authority
i. Many regions achieved their
independence or autonomy
f. Although Mughal authority declined,
India continued to prosper and to
actively trade in the international
economy
D. From Ming to Qing in China
1. As with the Mughal dynasty, increased
prosperity led to the splintering of
central control in Ming China during the
seventeenth century
a. Merchants in particular defied
commercial regulations; the
government thus failed to reap the
profits of long-distance trade
2. Administrative problems
a. As with the Ottoman Empire, the
quality of Ming leadership declined in
the sixteenth century
b. Zhu Yijun, the Wanli Emperor (1573–
1620) avoided governing for years
c. He and other emperors had litt le impact
on the vast bureaucracy
3. Economic problems
a. Pirates, officially labeled Japanese but
quite often Chinese, constantly raided
coastal ports
b. Silver caused numerous problems
i. In times of influx it caused
inflation
ii. In times of shortages, peasants
had to scramble to acquire silver
in order to pay their taxes; this
dislocation often led to revolts
iii. An overall silver shortage in
the 1630s and 1640s led to
an economic slowdown and,
correspondingly, to higher taxes
4. Collapse of Ming authority
a. Economic problems hamstrung the
government’s ability to cope with
natural disasters and food shortages in
the early sixteenth century
b. Several formidable rebellions appeared
i. One led by Li Zicheng captured
Beijing and ended the Ming
dynasty in 1644
5. The Qing dynasty
a. The beneficiaries of the Ming collapse
were the Manchus, a neighboring group
north of China
b. The Manchu formed the Qing
(Pure) dynasty and by the end of the
seventeenth century had embarked on
impressive economic and territorial
expansion
c. The Qing were successful early on
because of their flexibility and respect of
local traditions
i. The Qing continued to rule under
Confucian principles
ii. Newly acquired territories in Tibet
and Mongolia retained their local
administrative institutions
6. The Qing dynasty asserts control
a. They decreed that all Han Chinese
shave their foreheads and wear a braided
queue in the back
b. They banned intermarriage with
Manchus
c. They decreed that Han Chinese wear
Manchu garb
7. The Qing oversaw a huge population
increase as stability returned
a. New World crops helped support this
large population
8. Expansion and trade under the Qing
a. The Qing still carefully regulated long-
distance trade
i. European merchants could only
trade in the city of Canton under
sponsorship of Chinese merchants
148 ◆ Chapter 13 Worlds Entangled, 1600–1750
9. The Qing revival reinforced the Chinese
sense of cultural superiority
E. Tokugawa, Japan
1. Japan tended to deal with external
pressures better than its Asian
counterparts
2. Unification of Japan
a. During the sixteenth century, Japan was
wracked by civil war between various
feudal warlords, or daimyo
b. At the end of the century one warlord,
Toyotomi Hideyoshi, came out on top
of the other warlords
c. On Hideyoshi’s death, another daimyo,
Tokugawa Ieyasu, attained power
i. In 1603, he took the title of shogun
(military ruler in the emperor’s
name) and passed it to his son
d. The Tokugawa moved the
administrative capital to Edo (modern-
day Tokyo)
e. Under the new regime, villages
paid taxes to daimyos, who in turn
transferred resources to the shogun
i. Peace brought prosperity as
farmers became more productive
and the government improved the
realm’s infrastructure
f. Population doubled in the seventeenth
century
3. Foreign affairs and foreigners
a. The Tokugawa banned Christianity and
expelled all missionaries
b. The Tokugawa also limited trade to
Dutch merchants, who were allowed to
remain at a small island near Nagasaki
and unload just one ship per year
c. The Tokugawa did not completely
isolate Japan from the world
i. Trade flourished between China
and Japan
ii. The shoguns gathered reports and
publications from Chinese and
Dutch emissaries
iii. Much of the periphery of the
empire escaped close supervision
d. The regime also tried to create buffer
zones between Japan and other powers
i. Ryūkyūs in the south
ii. Ezo in the north
e. Th is carefully regulated interaction
helped build the dynasty by limiting
domestic upheavals brought on by
greater contact as in the cases of Ming
China and Mughal India
VI. Transformations of Europe
A. Expansion and dynastic chaos in Russia
1. After 1480, the Muscovy state expanded
rapidly across much of north central and
northeast Eurasia and expanded trade
networks to help consolidate a powerful
political order
a. Expansion into the steppe land
eliminated attacks from descendants of
the Mongols
b. Trade enhanced government coffers
2. Internal feuding plagued the regime in the
sixteenth century
3. In 1613, the crown passed to the Romanov
dynasty, which imposed order
a. They centered as much power as
possible in their own hands
b. Nobles had to serve as bureaucrats
c. Peasants were made the serfs of nobles
to sustain the crown and the nobility’s
wealth
4. Under Peter the Great (1682–1725),
Russia, as it became known, expanded
westward to the Baltic and southward into
the Caucasus
5. Thousands of Russian natives immigrated
into Siberia in the eighteenth century,
helping Russia consolidate an empire that
stretched from the Baltic to the Pacific
B. Economic and political fluctuations in Western
Europe
1. Economy of Europe continued to grow, but
it was affected by developments throughout
the world and the Th irty Years’ War.
2. The Th irty Years’ War
a. A war fought between Protestant
princes and the Habsburg Catholic
emperor for religious predominance in
Central Europe
b. A struggle for continental control
between Catholic powers, namely the
Spanish and Austrian Habsburgs and
the French
c. Dutch sought independence from Spain
so they could trade and worship as they
liked
d. Brutal war cost lives of civilians and
mercenary soldiers

i. Protestants saved by the Swedish
king Gustavus Adolphus II at one
batt le
ii. Fighting, disease, and famine
wiped out one third of Germany’s
urban population and two fi ft hs of
its rural population
e. Treaty of Westphalia signed in 1648
i. Agreed to a rough balance of power
between Catholics and Protestants
ii. Dutch attained independence
iii. Costs of war caused discontent
among Spain, France, and England
that would continue
iv. Central Europe devastated and
took more than one hundred years
to recover
f. War transformed war making in Europe
i. Enhanced the powers of larger,
centralized states
ii. Increased size of standing armies
iii. Army became more professional
iv. Weapons more standardized and
efficient
v. War cost more and led to public
debt
C. Western European economies
1. To fi nance wars depended on taxing
peasants
2. Commercial expansion led to rising
merchant class willing to invest capital on
new endeavors
3. Some countries, such as Spain, lost ground
because of rising military costs
4. Dutch mercantile class used advantages
in shipbuilding and fi nancial practices to
prosper
5. England and France also emerged
as commercial powerhouses in the
seventeenth century
a. State set policies that promoted national
business and drove out competition
i. Navigation acts
6. Economic development was not limited to
port towns
a. Reforms and improvements in
agriculture spurred food production
b. England’s agriculture became more
commercial with “enclosure movement”
D. Dynastic monarchies: France and England
1. All European monarchs tried to centralize
authority around a ruling household during
Chapter 13 Worlds Entangled, 1600–1750 ◆ 149
the seventeenth century; some succeeded
more than others
2. The Bourbon dynasty strived toward
“absolute” rule, where the kings answered
only to God
a. Versailles symbolized their goal, as it
served as a place where the nobility
came to seek the benefits from the king
and where the king could thus keep
watch over the nobility
b. Other dynasties—the Habsburgs
and the Romanovs, for example—
tried to emulate the Bourbons’
pretensions
c. No dynasty achieved “absolute” power
despite their efforts
3. England different from France in that it
allowed women to rule as queens in their
own right
a. Parliament remained important because
monarchs needed commoners to raise
funds
4. In England, the Stuart dynasty’s efforts to
achieve absolute power provoked civil war
with Parliament
a. Eventually, with the Glorious
Revolution of 1688–1689, the Stuart
kings agreed to rule in conjunction with
Parliament, leaving England’s nobility
and merchant classes a permanent say in
public affairs
5. These political struggles stimulated much
political writing such as Thomas Hobbes’s
Leviathan and John Locke’s Two Treatises of
Civil Government
E. Mercantilist wars
1. The ascendance of new powers such
as France and England intensified
commercial rivalries in Europe
a. In the eighteenth century new
mercantilist wars to control sea lanes
and colonies emerged
b. European powers accordingly built
large navies
c. These wars culminated in the Seven
Years’ War (1756–1763), the fi rst world
confl ict
i. Th is war was fought in Europe, the
Americas, and India
ii. The British Empire was the clear
winner with the most lucrative
overseas empire
150 ◆ Chapter 13 Worlds Entangled, 1600–1750
VII. Conclusion
A. Economic integration between 1500–1650
unsett led the world. More and more people
were drawn into long-distance commercial
networks.
B. These networks fostered further European
colonization in the Americas and an explosion
in the Atlantic slave trade, with diverse
repercussions in Africa.
C. In Eurasia, economic integration challenged
the legitimacy of the Ottoman and Mughal
empires while contributing to the downfall of
the Ming dynasty in China.
D. Newer powers in England, Russia, and
Japan were able to use this process to further
consolidate and/or expand their power. But
even in these new regimes, the pace of change
was often unsett ling.
LECTURE IDEAS
Gender Roles in Atlantic Slave trade
A great deal of research has been devoted to gender roles
of slaves in the Caribbean and North America. The avail-
ability of historical information provides an opportu-
nity to focus a lecture on the unique role of women and
their adaptability under duress as well as the redefi nition
of family within slave societies. For further information
on slave families and gender roles see More than Chattel:
Black Women and Slavery in the Americas, edited by David
Barry Gaspar and Darlene Clark Hine; Centering Woman:
Gender Discourses in Caribbean Slave Society, by Hilary
Beckles. Also see the following journal articles: “Wed-
dings on Contested Grounds: Slave Marriage in the An-
tebellum South,” by Thomas E. Will (1999, The Historian,
pp. 99–117); “The Slave Family and Household in the
British West Indies, 1800–1834,” B. W. Higman (1975,
Journal of Interdisciplinary History 6:2, pp. 261–287); Ju-
dith Carney “Rice Milling, Gender and Slave Labour in
Colonial South Carolina,” (1996, Past and Present 153, pp.
108–134).
The Economics of Addictive Trade Goods:
Chocolate, Sugar, Coffee, Cocaine
An interesting lecture that connects with the class activ-
ity on chocolate and can att ract students’ attention to the
larger themes in this chapter is a discussion of the rise of
the drug trade and its impact on the seventeenth-century
world. Chapter 3, “The Economic Culture of Drugs,” in
Kenneth Pomeranz and Steven Topik’s The World That
Trade Created: Society, Culture, and the World Economy,
1400 to the Present, offers a concise overview as to how
the coffee, tobacco, chocolate, and sugar trade shaped not
only the direction of global trade, but also the lives of or-
dinary people around the globe, and continues to do so.
Mark Pendergrast’s Uncommon Grounds: The History of
Coffee and How It Transformed Our World (2000) also has
some nice anecdotes.
Pirates!
In conjunction with the class activity on piracy you can
create an interesting and informative lecture on piracy
that draws together all the major themes in the chapter as
well as geographic regions. Piracy was a significant source
of economic growth around the world as well as cultural
sharing. You can discuss weaponry, privateers, technol-
ogy, and so on. Th is Web site provides additional histori-
cal detail:
www.kipar.org/piratical-resources/pirate-flags.html
A General History of Pirates by Captain Johnson (writ-
ten in 1724) offers a chance for students to see a primary
source about pirates. The series of biographies can be used
to supplement your lectures.
A Growing Mass Media
An interesting lecture could be formed completely around
the Gutenberg printing press and its impact on the world.
You can easily accomplish the two major objectives of this
chapter merely by starting with this narrow focus and
showing how rapidly print helped to disseminate wealth
within Europe and to increase economic integration. With
the help of mass media, Europeans ultimately overtook
the world’s other cultures, creating further difficulties in
their already weakening systems. But this was not due to
print alone. The other factors discussed in this chapter,
such as the rise of colonialism and new trade items, plan-
tation systems, the slave trade, and economic changes all
played roles in the global shift in power. Th is site provides
images from early printed books:
communication.ucsd.edu/bjones/Books/printech.
html
Life in Rural China
Jonathan Spence’s Death of Woman Wang (1978) can gen-
erate useful class discussion surrounding the overarching
theme of “worlds unsett led.” The novel traces the life and
death of a village woman in northern China in the late sev-
enteenth century during the wake of the Ming-to-Qing

transition. It demonstrates the impact that larger events
can have on what are often “hidden” voices in history. The
book also offers a chance to explore the forces that led to
the collapse of the Ming dynasty and the rise of Manchu
control in China.
Capitalism and Slavery
Eric Williams’s Capitalism and Slavery (1994) offers ma-
terial for a lecture exploring the intersection of emerging
capitalist institutions in western Europe and the rise of
the Atlantic slave trade. It explores the nature of Carib-
bean societies at this time, arguably the region on the
planet most transformed by global economic forces in the
seventeenth century.
CLASS ACTIVITIES
Slavery in New Amsterdam
Use the Web addresses listed below to fi nd primary-source
materials on slavery in the early American colonies. You
can have your students consider multiple critical ques-
tions, many of them listed on the site. For example, have
students read some of the auction advertisements and look
at the painting “First Slave Auction in New Amsterdam”:
www.nyscss.org/resources/publications/
NYandSlavery/Chapter%20B/Documents/1655.
Auction.pdf
Then ask them to describe what they perceive life would
be like for a slave during this time. A more complex task
would be to provide them with similar documents from
the Caribbean and have them compare and contrast the
lives of slaves from the two regions. You could end with
statistical and legal information regarding the lives of
slaves in the two areas. Another interesting task would
be to provide a bill of sale that lists the purchaser and the
date of purchase. What information can be gleaned from
this document? In addition, note that these slaves were
brought to the Dutch colonies by the Dutch West India
Company. See:
www.coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/
NNHistory.html
for more on business practices. How did this company
differ in its practices from the East India Company? How
closely was it tied to the government? See also:
www.nyscss.org/resources/publications/
NYandSlavery/Chapter%20B/Dutch%20New%20
Amsterdam.pdf
Chapter 13 Worlds Entangled, 1600–1750 ◆ 151
www.slaveryinnewyork.org
The History of Chocolate
Tie the Colombian Exchange, the Atlantic trade routes,
and the growing wealth and prosperity in Europe to a
class activity on chocolate for another memorable learn-
ing experience. You need to provide students with fact
sheets on the processing of chocolate:
www.fieldmuseum.org/chocolate/about.html
gourmetsleuth.com/chocolatepot.htm
Ideally offer them some real examples of chocolate pots
and cups. If you are really ambitious, provide traditional
hot chocolate made from warm milk and chocolate, a litt le
sugar and cinnamon. Also give them small bites of choco-
late with no sugar content or with as litt le sugar content as
possible. If you have access to it, provide a dried pod from
the cacao plant. Have students read the material, taste the
chocolate, handle and look at the chocolate pot (or pic-
tures of a chocolate pot) and answer the following ques-
tions: How does the chocolate pot appear any different
from a coffee pot? Does there seem to be any difference?
Why might it be different? Taste the bitter chocolate. The
Aztecs and Maya added water and chili pepper, no sugar.
How do you think it would have tasted? Why do you
think everyone drank it? Why do you think it became so
popular? What historical aspect of this do you fi nd most
interesting? How do you think chocolate changed trade
and society in Europe?
Piracy Then and Now
Due to the rise in global trade, merchants saw an increase
in theft on the high seas. Pirating and privateering formed
a significant threat to international trade. Formulate a
class period around a series of brief but thought-provoking
activities that you can end with a five-minute summary of
points. Ideally you can accompany this activity with a lec-
ture period on pirating and privateering around the world
(see Lecture Ideas). Here are some ideas for three or four
activities that your students could accomplish within a
fi ft y-minute class period.
1. For this exercise provide students with a map show-
ing the “hot spots” for seventeenth- and eighteenth-
century pirates and modern-day pirates. Then ask
them the following:
Look at the modern-day piracy maps and compare
them to the seventeenth- and eighteenth-century
maps. Pirates have reasons for frequenting certain
152 ◆ Chapter 13 Worlds Entangled, 1600–1750
areas. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
and even today one of the reasons is often connected
to the ease with which the pirates could move slaves
out of a port. What was the triangular trade of the
1600s? Map the triangular trade routes and point
out where pirates were likely to hide. Use arrows and
words to indicate the directions of people, goods, and
money. Along which part of the trade route would
the ships probably have been the most interesting to
pirates?
Pirates also could often be found in the eastern
Mediterranean, along the northern coast of Africa
(the Barbary Coast), near Madagascar, and along the
coast of China. What was going on in these locations
that would have made them att ractive to pirates? Pi-
rates follow loot, so the presence of pirates in these
areas indicates that these places were located along
trade routes where ships carried precious metals, jew-
els, spices, and other valuable commodities. But why
these areas? What drew them here?
Now look at the maps of today’s hot spots for pirate
attacks. What differences or patterns of similarities
do you think there might be between the historical
pirates and present-day pirates? What are today’s pi-
rates trying to steal?
2. For this exercise, provide students with sheets show-
ing the various symbols on pirate flags and the mean-
ings of the symbols. Use some of the most famous
flags and the pirates that flew under them. Then ask
these questions:
Look at the variety of symbols that were used on pi-
rate flags. Design your own pirate flag. What symbols
would you use and why? What flag would you choose
to fly under if you were trying to trick other ships?
Why? Try to base your decision on logic. What kind
of pirate are you? What is your heritage? Are you a pri-
vateer, corsair, or pirate? Are you a man or a woman?
What part of the world is your home base? Why? Ex-
plain your choices.
3. Show a fi lm clip from one of the Pirates of the Carib-
bean fi lms and ask them the following:
Th is is a good chance to work on your skills of analysis.
Here you can use a fi lm clip and evaluate how well, or
poorly, it relates to history. Using this brief scene from
The Pirates of the Caribbean, write a paragraph about
what you consider to be historically accurate or inac-
curate. What aspects of the fi lm might the producers
or directors have included because of their historical
knowledge instead of shaping it out of pure fantasy?
For details on creating these sheets, see the following
websites:
Pirate Flags
www.kipar.org/piratical-resources/pirate-flags.html
International Maritime Bureau Live Piracy Map 2007
www.icc-ccs.org/extra/display.php
Create a seventeenth- to eighteenth-century map simi-
lar to this:
www.maparchive.org/details.php?image_id=447&ses
sionid=dfb 4c4c41248649ef06bf8ba4a1b3575
and mark the hotspots along the coast of Peru; down the
coast of North America; all of the Caribbean; the Medi-
terranean; the islands off the northwestern coast of Af-
rica including the Madeira Islands, Canary Islands, and
Azores; the western coast of England; the southeastern
coast of the Indian Ocean; the Spice Islands and Southern
Pacific; and the water around the Mauritius Island and
the southeastern coast of Africa.
The Currency of Trade Beads
Among the items that continued to be an important form
of currency between Native Americans and Europeans
were trade beads. American Indians had long used beads
of shell, bone, quills, stone, and even wood to decorate
their clothing and other personal items. With the arrival
of the Europeans, though, new kinds of beads (glass from
Venice, ceramic, silver, brass, and German silver) were
introduced, creating a whole new market among the Na-
tive American tribes. Europeans had done much the same
when they began to trade down the coast of Africa, of-
fering weapons and beads along with other items in ex-
change for slaves. The bead market allowed Europeans
to penetrate into the continent and created a form of ex-
change that is still viable today. Provide students with a
variety of beads, some made of materials that would have
been native to North America and could have been made
with Native American technology, and those that would
have come from Europe. Give them a fact sheet on beads
and perhaps some images of fi nished native products.
Then ask them to sort the beads into two lots: those they
believed to have been the kind made by Native Americans
and those made and traded by Europeans. After they have
sorted the beads, you can go through them and discuss
what the beads are made of, how they were traded, what
they were used for, and so on. For more information on
the history of beads, see:

www.windriverhistory.org/exhibits/ShoshoneArt/
beadwork/index.html
www.thefurtrapper.com/trade_beads.htm
www.kstrom.net/isk/art/beads/art_bead.html
RECOMMENDED FILMS
■ Age of the Shoguns (Japan Past and Present series, Part
3, 53 min.). Between approximately 1550 and 1868 Japan
sealed itself off from the rest of the world, allowing only
a few Dutch and Chinese to live and trade there. Th is
fi lm examines the Tokugawa Shogunate’s political orga-
nization with the daimyo, samurai, farmer, and merchant
classes. It also looks at the growth of the merchant class,
the development of Kabuki, and the meaning of seppuku.
■ Akbar the Great: Mogul Emperor of India (54 min.).
Akbar the Great was another leader who promoted reli-
gious tolerance and state stability. The Mogul Empire be-
came a blend of Muslim, Hindu, Christian, and Buddhist
customs as the crossroads of trade. Th is documentary,
fi lmed on location, shows the architectural and land-
scaping masterpieces that Akbar inspired and how he
supported an empire of cultural difference. Finally, the
fi lm shows the remnants of the empire today in northern
India.
■ Black Robe (1991, 101 min.). This feature-length film
is the story of the spiritual and physical quest of a seven-
teenth century Jesuit priest to fi nd a Huron village deep
in the wilderness of Canada. It has become an iconic fi lm
for many historians in regard to aspects of history and its
accurate representation of the confl icts among Canada’s
First People and the encroaching Europeans. Laforgue,
the Jesuit, is forced to choose between the teachings of
the church and his personal values; his story highlights
the ethical questions elicited by church practice. Th is is
a compassionate fi lm about the struggle of Canada’s First
People during the period of colonization.
■ Land of the Eagle: The Great Encounter (Land of the
Eagle Series, 1990, 60 min.). Th is is one of the few fi lms to
combine early history and environmental history. These
documentaries were coproduced by NPR and the BBC.
They draw on the interaction of land and people as well
as the contrast between how incoming Europeans viewed
the land versus how the indigenous people did. In The
Great Encounter, the focus is on the struggle of early Eng-
lish colonists on Roanoke Island and the Chesapeake Bay,
and the Pilgrims in Massachusetts.
■ The Last of the Mohicans (1992, 112 min.). This histori-
cal romance, based on James Fenimore Cooper’s novel,
Chapter 13 Worlds Entangled, 1600–1750 ◆ 153
achieves a high degree of historical accuracy in regard to
place, costume, speech, and other material and military
culture. Set in 1757 during the French and Indian War,
the story takes place around Fort William Henry during
the height of batt le. The fi lm recreates period siege war-
fare well. Subsequent archaeological excavations at the
actual fort support Cooper’s original fictional account,
the basis for the fi lm. One scene that was cut but can be
found on the director’s cut DVD shows a classic British
rank and fi le advancing to attack the French regulars and
Indians. It is a fairly accurate portrayal and could be used
to discuss the military tactic that led to British success.
RECOMMENDED READING
C. R. Boxer, 1973. The Dutch Seaborne Empire, 1600–
1800.
Charles Corn, 1998. The Scents of Eden: A History of the
Spice Trade.
Philip D. Curtin, 1998. The Rise and Fall of the Plantation
Complex, 2nd ed.
Anthony Farrington, 2002. Trading Places: The East India
Company and Asia.
Dennis Flynn, 1996. World Silver and Monetary History
in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (Collected
Studies Series).
Bruce Masters, 1988. The Origins of Western Economic
Dominance in the Middle East: Mercantilism and the
Islamic Economy in Aleppo, 1600–1750.
Walter A. McDougall, 1993. Let the Sea Make a Noise:
A History of the North Pacific from Magellan to
MacArthur.
William McNeill, 1982. The Pursuit of Power: Technology,
Armed Forces, and Society since a.d. 1000.
Gary B. Nash, 1999. Red, White, and Black: The Peoples of
Early North America, 4th ed.
Jonathan Spence, 1978. The Death of Woman Wang.
Allen W. Trelease, 1960. Indian Affairs in Colonial New
York: The Seventeenth Century.
Richard White, 1991. The Middle Ground: Indians,
Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region,
1650–1815.
Eric Williams, 1994. Capitalism and Slavery.
WEB SITES
Africans in America
Resources for pathbreaking Africans in early Americas
www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part2/index.html
154 ◆ Chapter 13 Worlds Entangled, 1600–1750
Afrika Art and Culture: Connections between Africa and
Europe
Visually stimulating museum exhibit
www.smb.spk-berlin.de/mv/afrika/e/index.html
A Brief History of New Netherlands
Focus is on economic history
www.coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/
NNHistory.html
Creating French Culture
On the rise of absolutism
www.loc.gov/exhibits/bnf/bnf0005.html
Dutch Colonies
Tour of Dutch colonies in North America
www.nps.gov/history/nr/travel/kingston/
colonization.htm
The Jesuits in China
Access to primary sources
www.ibiblio.org/expo/vatican.exhibit/exhibit/
i-rome_to_china/Jesuits_in_China.html
Port Royal Project
History of Caribbean port and role in trade
nautarch.tamu.edu/portroyal/
The Slave Route
Juxtaposes the slave trade with modern slavery, more
international perspective
portal.unesco.org/culture/en/ev.php-URL_
ID=25659&URL_ DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_
SECTION=201.html
The Slave Trade
An extensive compendium of biographies
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/slavery.htm
Trading Places: The East India Company and Asia
History of the East India Company and its interaction
with Asia
portico.bl.uk/onlinegallery/features/trading/home.
html
Understanding Slavery
A difficult site to navigate but worth the effort for the
African perspective; a UK government site
www.understandingslavery.com/
Slavery in New York
Exhibit at the New-York Historical Society, 2005–2006.
www.slaveryinnewyork.org
CH A PTER 14
Cultures of Splendor and
Power, 1500–1780
▶ Trade and Culture
▶ Culture in the Islamic World
The Ottoman Cultural Synthesis
Safavid Culture
Power and Culture under the Mughals
▶ Culture and Politics in East Asia
China: The Challenge of Expansion and Diversity
Transmission of Ideas
Popular Culture and Religion
Technology and Cartography
Cultural Identity in Tokugawa, Japan
▶ The Enlightenment in Europe
Origins of the Enlightenment
LECTURE OUTLINE
Th is chapter explores cultural developments between
1500 and 1780. New wealth created by increased trans-
regional trade created the conditions for a global cultural
flowering. But even though knowledge of different cul-
tures spread throughout the world, most intellectual
and artistic developments continued to invoke regional
traditions and norms. Muslim and East Asian societies,
while increasingly aware of and impressed with European
modes of thought and technology, remained convinced of
their cultural superiority. In Asia, only Japan proved re-
ceptive to cultural borrowing. Europeans also proved to
be prejudiced. Because of their accomplishments, many
of their philosophers went so far as to develop what they
considered objective universal principles applicable to all
societies. In all of these manifestations, this cultural re-
naissance was uneven at best, regardless of where it took
place. Only the elites and some of the middle classes took
part in it. The poor and most women were relegated to
the sidelines. In the Americas and Oceania, indigenous
populations came under increased European cultural
subjugation.
The New Science
Enlightenment Th inkers
▶ African Cultural Flourishing
The Asante, Oyo, and Benin Cultural Traditions
▶ Hybrid Cultures in the Americas
Spiritual Encounters
The Making of Colonial Cultures
▶ Imperialism in Oceania
The Impact on Australia Was Profound
The Scientific Voyages of Captain Cook
Classification and “Race”
I. Trade and Culture
A. New wealth from global trade allowed for
cultural flowering in much of the world during
this period
1. China, the Islamic world, Africa, and
Europe were not threatened with foreign
takeover and their educated and artistic
groups continued to affi rm the validities of
their own ways
2. Japan, in contrast, was more receptive to
some foreign ideas
B. Europeans increasingly colonized the
indigenous peoples in the Americas and
Oceania, and it was European culture that
spread and diversified in these areas during
this period with strong influence from Native
Americans and African slaves
C. During this era, Europeans increasingly
explored the Pacific Ocean and closely
examined other cultures; they analyzed the
world using the methods of the scientific
revolution and the Enlightenment and found
themselves superior
155
156 ◆ Chapter 14 Cultures of Splendor and Power, 1500–1780
1. Captain Cook’s voyages in the Pacific
between 1768 and 1779 are a prime
example of this development
II. Culture in the Islamic World
A. Muslim elites devoted large resources to
cultural development in the three Islamic
dynasties of the period—the Ottoman, Safavid,
and Mughal dynasties; each developed a
relatively autonomous form of Muslim culture
B. The Ottoman cultural synthesis
1. Ottoman culture blended Sufi mysticism
and ultra-orthodox ulama, military
and administrative traditions, and the
dominant Islamic faith and minority
Christian and Jewish sects
a. Ottomans permitted dhimmis
(followers of religions permitted by
law) to organize themselves into millets
(minority religious communities) that
had cultural, but not political, autonomy
b. The diverse Ottoman world
was governed by the kanun (its
administrative law)
i. Suleiman the Magnificent oversaw
its codification
ii. The code included laws on the
rights and duties of subjects,
what clothes they could wear, and
regulations between Muslims and
non-Muslims
2. The Ottoman education system tolerated
differences
a. Civil and military bureaucrats were
educated in one set of schools
b. The ulama emerged from the madrasas
c. Tekkes taught the devotional strategies
of various Sufi orders
d. Ottoman education tended to stress law,
language, and religion over science and
math
3. Scholars tended to focus on the defects and
decline in the Ottoman system
4. Ottoman rulers encouraged delight in the
world
a. Tulipmania obsessed elites
b. Working classes enjoyed coffeehouses
and taverns
5. Ottoman subjects were interested in
Europe
a. Many adopted European fashion and
décor
b. Some intellectuals took interest in
European science but were discouraged
by the ulama
C. Safavid culture
1. Because Shiism created a culture of
criticism, the Safavids cultivated more
conservative elements of Persian society;
they created a system based on Shiism and
loyalty to the ruling dynasty
a. They used traditional education
institutions to inculcate this synthesis
2. Under Shah Abbas, Persia enjoyed a
cultural revival
a. He moved the capital to Isfahan and
hired artists and architects to create a
showpiece for his rule
3. Safavid artists, patronized by the court
and the landed and commercial classes,
perfected the design of illustrated books
4. Other artists improved carpet-making,
mosaics, and calligraphy
D. Power and culture under the Mughals
1. Like the Ottomans, the Mughals ruled over
a large non-Muslim population; Mughal
culture thus was open and a synthesis of
Muslim and Hindu traditions
a. Akbar promoted this open culture
i. Under his rule, Mughal
intellectuals cultivated Muslim
legacies but also studied the classic
Hindu literary works
ii. Akbar also valued Hindu art and
music
b. Mughal rulers after Akbar continued to
patronize intellectuals and artists
c. Emperor Shah Jahan hired architects to
beautify Agra, the imperial capital
i. He commissioned the construction
of the Taj Mahal, which blended
Persian, Islamic, and Hindu motifs
ii. Women in the Mughal court
pursued the arts, including poetry
2. Mughals participated in foreign trade and
adopted some European technologies,
especially involving guns and cannons
3. The Mughals, like most Muslims, looked to
China for external inspiration, not Europe.
Europe was not considered culturally equal
III. Culture and Politics in East Asia
A. China: The challenge of expansion and
diversity
 Chapter 14 Cultures of Splendor and Power, 1500–1780 ◆ 157
1. Transmission of ideas
a. In the sixteenth and seventeenth
centuries, China experienced a surge in
the publication and circulation of books
and ideas
i. Books circulated because
economic prosperity made them
affordable to many, but not most
ii. Demand was especially high for
study aids for the civil service
exam
iii. Some elite women exploited this
popularity of books, becoming
authors of poetry and other literary
arts
iv. Despite official attempts to
regulate this development, there
was no centralized system of
censorship. Controversial works
circulated freely
2. Popular culture and religion
a. Among nonelites, oral communication
and rituals continued to transmit
cultural norms
i. In the villages, people learned
about the outside world through
travels to marketplaces and
assorted travelers
ii. Government officials had no
real control over how villagers
absorbed or interpreted this
information
3. Religion remained syncretic and religious
practices were diverse and decentralized
a. Emperors tolerated diverse beliefs
so long as they did not challenge the
Confucian order
4. The central role of the emperor remained
paramount during this time
5. Technology and cartography
a. Much of Chinese astronomy and
calendrical science had been developed
to assist the emperor in determining
proper dates for agriculture, festivals,
mourning periods, and judicial assizes
6. European missionaries and traders were
greatly impressed with Chinese art and
science but believed their own science was
superior
a. Missionaries tried to impress the
Chinese with their astronomy and
cartography
i. Chinese officials recognized their
value, especially in cartography,
but were confident in their own
methods
a. The Chinese rejected European
emphasis on spatial ordering
with maps, believing that these
did not convey their belief in
the centrality of China, and
especially the emperor, to the
earth’s proper order
7. Despite greater contact with Europeans,
the Chinese remained rather ignorant of
the rest of the world and closed minded
a. Chinese elites clung to their sense of
cultural superiority and viewed foreign
ideas as a threat to their social order
B. Cultural identity in Tokugawa, Japan
1. Increased trade and political stability
fostered a cultural flowering in Japan
during this time period that reflected
native, Chinese, and European influences
2. The political elites—the imperial court, the
shogun, religious institutions, the samurai
and the daimyo cultivated Nō theater,
teahouses, flower arranging, lacquerware
production, and screen painting
3. At the same time, a new, rougher, more
urban culture emerged, patronized by
merchants and artisans
a. Geishas appeared
b. Kabuki theater emerged
c. Th is pleasure-oriented urban culture
was known as the “floating world”
because it distorted official societal
norms
4. One-third of the Japanese population
was literate during this period, leading to
the emergence of booksellers and book
lenders
5. In high culture, Chinese influence
remained important
a. Confucianism offered the Tokugawa
Shogunate a useful ideology
b. The regime required everyone to
register at a Buddhist temple
c. Buddhism supplemented but did not
replace Shintō, the indigenous belief
system of ancestor veneration and
worshipping gods in nature
6. Chinese authorities tapped other
important sources of knowledge
158 ◆ Chapter 14 Cultures of Splendor and Power, 1500–1780
a. “Dutch learning” circulated openly in
the eighteenth century
i. Japanese scholars absorbed
European texts on science,
geography, and medicine
ii. Students of European teaching
were not numerous, but they had a
large influence
iii. European teachings never
challenged the supremacy of
Confucian philosophy
7. The Japanese were far more willing to
borrow from Europeans than the Chinese
a. Japan had a history of absorbing foreign
ideas, especially Chinese thought and
customs
b. The Japanese did not consider learning
from overseas sources a sign of cultural
inferiority
IV. The Enlightenment in Europe
A. Origins of the Enlightenment
1. The Enlightenment flowed from regional
traditions and Europe’s contacts with the
wider world
a. Learning during the Enlightenment
was more ambitious and expansive than
previous learning
i. Enlightened thinkers aspired
to universal and objective
principles applicable to all peoples
everywhere
a. Most of these thinkers were
unaware that European, upper-
class male perspectives colored
their views
b. Enlightened thinking was shaped by
cultural contacts with other groups
i. By the eighteenth century,
European thinkers were becoming
more critical of other cultures
2. The Enlightenment was also the product
of continued social, political, and religious
tension
a. Extensive warfare in the seventeenth
century gave rise to critics of established
religious and political authorities
b. Increased commerce spawned new
private wealth that could fund new
intellectual and artistic pursuits;
intellectuals and artists no longer had to
depend on church or court patronage
B. The New Science
1. The crises of the seventeenth century led
many intellectuals to seek objective truths
and look beyond established institutions
for inspiration
a. Scientists such as Galileo and
Newton began to use the philosopher
Bacon’s approach, which consisted of
experimentation and observation
b. Scientists increasingly began to identify
“natural laws” governing the universe
c. Expanding commerce furthered these
pursuits
i. New wealth funded research
ii. Greater exposure to different
plants, animals, people, and
historical experiences demanded
new explanations
d. Many monarchs supported these efforts
by funding royal academies of science
e. Increased literacy in Europe spread
these ideas and this approach to
understanding the world
i. Farmers and military leaders
increasingly used the scientific
approach to improve their
methods
f. The emergence of this scientific
worldview was uneven
i. Christian ideas still dominated the
thoughts of most people
ii. Local customs and traditions
prevailed in most areas
iii. The poor and most women were
illiterate
iv. Governments censored views that
they found threatening
C. Enlightenment thinkers
1. The scientific approach led many European
philosophers to believe in the power of
human reason and the perfectibility of
mankind
a. While optimistic, they wrote scathing
critiques of the flaws in their societies
i. Voltaire attacked the torture of
criminals
ii. Diderot denounced French
absolutism
iii. Smith criticized mercantilism
b. Enlightened thinkers trusted nature
and human reason but distrusted
institutions and traditions
 Chapter 14 Cultures of Splendor and Power, 1500–1780 ◆ 159
i. Rousseau wrote that “Man is born
good; it is society that corrupts
him”
ii. Enlightened thinkers especially
railed against superstition
2. Enlightened thinkers were often
incarcerated or exiled for their writings
3. The Enlightenment was an uneven, pan-
European movement
a. It was strongest in northwestern Europe
and weakest in Iberia, Scandinavia, and
Poland
b. Its reach extended to the port towns of
Britain’s North American colonies
c. Overall it had its strongest influence
among the literate peoples of
commercial cities
i. Book clubs, coffeehouses, and
salons helped spread these views
4. Although many aristocrats patronized
Enlightenment thinkers, many
philosophers rejected social distinctions
based on birth
a. John Locke believed that man was born
a tabula rasa
b. Few Enlightenment male philosophers
believed in gender equality
5. Enlightenment thinkers urged religious
toleration
6. Increasingly in the eighteenth century,
Enlightenment philosophers “discovered”
the laws of human behavior
a. Adam Smith’s Wealth of Nations
described universal economic laws
i. He stressed unregulated markets
with minimal government
interference
a. The “invisible hand” of the
market would guarantee general
prosperity and social peace
ii. He believed that non-European
peoples that he deemed uncivilized
would have to imitate Europe and
organize themselves according to
natural laws
b. Another famous work was the French
Encyclopedia, to which nearly two
hundred intellectuals contributed
essays
i. While criticizing aspects of
European society, it generally
praised the superiority of European
culture over all others
7. Enlightenment thinkers urged a cultural
hierarchy that extolled commerce and
rationality
a. They ranked societies according to how
well they met these standards
i. Although acknowledging other
societies’ accomplishments, they
viewed Europe as taking the lead
here
8. Absolutist governments were not entirely
hostile to enlightened ideas
a. They appreciated the need for greater
social mobility and commerce to enrich
the state
V. African Cultural Flourishing
A. Africa had strong artisanal traditions dating
back centuries, but the slave trade gave
African elites money to support new cultural
achievements
1. Artisans maintained local forms of cultural
production, including woodcarving,
weaving, and weapon making
B. Arts and crafts could glorify royal power
and capture the energy of a universe that
was believed to be suff used with spiritual
beings
C. The Asante, Oyo, and Benin cultural
traditions
1. Slave-trading states became wealthy and
powerful
a. Asante
i. Gold used in craft ing seats and
stools for royalty
b. Oyo
i. Bronze heads of Ife, crafted by
Yoruba artisans
c. Benin
i. Bronze and terra-cotta heads
VI. Hybrid cultures in the Americas
A. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries,
the mingling between European colonizers and
native peoples produced new hybrid cultures,
but increasingly this mixing grew unbalanced
as Europeans imposed their political and
cultural authority
1. Indians were under pressure to adapt their
cultures to European intrusion
2. Europeans also were culturally
imperialistic
a. Missionaries devoted themselves
to converting natives and slaves to
Christianity
160 ◆ Chapter 14 Cultures of Splendor and Power, 1500–1780
3. Europeans also had to adapt to a new
cultural environment
a. As time passed and colonists achieved
a level of stability and prosperity,
however, they began to deemphasize
their past dependency on natives
b. By the eighteenth century, European
colonists increasingly looked to Europe
for cultural standards
B. Spiritual encounters
1. Christian missionaries, with the backing of
governments and armies, were successful at
converting indigenous peoples and African
slaves
a. Catholic missionaries went to great
lengths to learn Native American
culture and use that knowledge to
promote Christianity
2. The Christianity that emerged among
these groups tended to be a hybrid form
that incorporated indigenous gods and
traditions
a. Some Europeans captured by Indians
adopted indigenous faiths and customs
3. Sexual relations between Indian and
African women and European men were
very common in the Americas, leading to
the emergence of new ethnic categories
4. Europeans also tried to convert African
slaves
a. Like the Indians, Africans blended
Christianity with their native beliefs or
belief in Islam
i. Christianity often helped
inspire resistance among slave
communities
C. The making of colonial cultures
1. Iberian colonies
a. The most powerful group were the
Creoles, or people of European descent
born in the Americas
i. They resented the control that
“peninsulars” (Europeans born in
Europe) had over colonial society
ii. They also resented mercantilist
regulations
b. Creole identity also emerged from the
ideas of the Enlightenment
i. Enlightened ideas justified their
resentment of peninsulars and
mercantilist restrictions on trade
ii. In many cities, reading clubs and
salons operated
a. The Spanish and Portuguese
crowns tried to limit or censor
publications, but ideas still
spread
2. British America
a. Wealthy colonists strove to imitate
English ways
i. They imported more English
goods
ii. They modeled their governments
after England’s
iii. They practiced patriarchy
b. In the process of trying to be more
English they consumed and produced
Enlightenment tracts
i. Thomas Jefferson’s “Declaration of
Independence” is the most famous
Enlightenment document
VII. Imperialism in Oceania
A. Europeans increasingly began to explore the
Pacific east and south of modern-day Indonesia
in the eighteenth century
B. The impact on Australia was profound
1. Until then, Australia had been a world
apart, separated by water and distance from
other regions
2. 300,000 indigenous hunters and gatherers
lived there at the time of European
exploration
C. The scientific voyages of Captain Cook
1. The voyages of Captain Cook led the
English to discover the continent’s verdant
east coast
a. Cook symbolized his age
i. His voyages opened up the Pacific
to European colonization
ii. The Royal Society and the British
crown sponsored his voyages
iii. Popular accounts and engravings
of his voyages increased European
curiosity about the exotic worlds of
the Pacific
iv. His voyages opened up the Pacific
to cultural colonization
b. Many scientists accompanied Cook
during his voyages
i. They made about 3,000 drawings
of plants, birds, landscapes, and
peoples unknown to Europeans
ii. They classified new flora and fauna
according to the new Linnaean
classificatory system
 Chapter 14 Cultures of Splendor and Power, 1500–1780 ◆ 161
iii. They gave geographical features
English names
2. After Cook’s voyages, the British hoped
to make Australia a trading port and a
supplier of raw materials
a. When the local population proved
incapable of aiding in this goal, British
authorities sent colonists
i. These colonists brought European
flora and fauna
3. By 1788, the British controlled the eastern
half of Australia
a. They began exporting criminals as well
as encouraging free labor migration to
the new colony
b. By 1860, there were 1.2 million Anglo-
Australians
4. European diseases wiped out much of
the indigenous population during this
period
D. Classification and “race”
1. European exploration and colonization
of new areas in the Pacific came at a
time when Europeans were using race
to categorize other peoples they
encountered
2. Many Enlightenment figures had begun
to use the term race to designate groups of
people in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries
a. Linnaeus identified five groups
among Homo sapiens, classifying
people according to their physical
characteristics and social qualities
b. Johann Friedrich Blumenbach, the
father of modern anthropology, took
this view and classified humans into
four races—European, Asian, African,
and American
i. He introduced the term
“Caucasian” to denote
Europeans
ii. He believed that Pacific Islanders
fell somewhere between
Caucasian and Ethiopians (whom
he considered different from
Africans)
iii. The death of Cook at the hand
of Hawaiians led Europeans to
deemphasize this mystique and
view the peoples of Oceania as
savages
VIII. Conclusion
A. A global cultural renaissance occurred between
1500 and 1780
1. Book production and consumption soared
2. New monuments arose
3. Knowledge of other cultures increased
among the world’s educated groups
B. In China, Africa, and the Islamic world, social
and cultural forces from within rather than from
without generated these cultural flowerings
C. Th is cultural renaissance was uneven, mainly
benefiting elite and middle-class men in the
Eurasian societies
1. The indigenous peoples of the Americas
and Oceania were increasingly subjected to
European cultural domination
D. Europeans increasingly gained an expansive
view of the world and their place in it.
1. They developed “universal” and “objective”
standards with which to analyze the world
and to master it
E. The Chinese and Islamic empires rejected these
European views
F. Indigenous people in the Americas and
Oceania resisted cultural domination
LECTURE IDEAS
The Voyages of James Cook
A lecture that explores the voyages of Captain James Cook
between 1768 and 1779 can highlight several themes ex-
plored in this chapter. Comparing and contrasting them
with the voyages of Columbus, Drake, or another Euro-
pean explorer from the fi fteenth or sixteenth century is a
good way to show the changes in European att itudes by
the eighteenth century. Cook’s voyages represent an age
of science and rational belief, plus a growing sense of Eu-
ropean superiority over other peoples in the world. Both
Richard Hough’s Captain James Cook (1997) and Alan
Moorehead’s Fatal Impact: Captain Cook’s Exploration of
the South Pacific—Its High Adventures and Disastrous Ef-
fects (1996) are useful here.
Jesuit Missionaries in China
The Jesuit experience in China during the period covered
in this chapter is an excellent avenue for introducing the
development of European science and European att itudes
toward other cultures and how the Chinese interacted
with both phenomena during this time period. Jesuit mis-
sionaries hoped that impressing Chinese officials with
162 ◆ Chapter 14 Cultures of Splendor and Power, 1500–1780
European technology and science would inspire these
officials to accept Christianity, or at least to allow the Je-
suits wide latitude in proselytizing among the Chinese
people. Court officials in the Qing dynasty were willing
to incorporate some European learning into their world-
view, particularly European cartography, but they kept
the Jesuits on a short leash. For information see chapter 2,
“The Catholic Century,” in Jonathan Spence’s The Chan’s
Great Continent: China in Western Minds (1998) and Dan-
iel Kane, “Mapping ‘All Under Heaven’: Jesuit Cartogra-
phy in China,” (July/August 1999) Mercator’s World 4:4.
Available at:
web.archive.org/web20030630221146/
mercatorsworld.com/article.php3?i=64
Horse Cultures in North America
The continued impact of European colonization on Na-
tive Americans can be explored by tracing the Plains
Indians’ incorporation of the horse into their economic
and social structure. Chapters 2–4 of Elliot West’s The
Contested Plains: Indians, Goldseekers, and the Rush to
Colorado (1998) provide a useful and concise summary of
this development. More excellent lecture material on the
collision of cultures occurring in North America can be
found in John Demo’s The Unredeemed Captive: A Family
Story from Early America (1995), which explores a young
English girl’s life among Mohawk Indians after she was
captured at an early age.
Adam Smith’s Misogyny
A lecture on Adam Smith can explore the chauvinis-
tic nature of the European Enlightenment in the eigh-
teenth century and its continued impact on world history
through the present. Smith’s views on economics were
widely influenced by Great Britain’s historical develop-
ment, particularly its commercial position. Yet to this day,
his work is viewed as having universal application to all
peoples, particularly developing nations. Smith was one
of the fi rst Europeans to suggest that the rest of the world
imitate Europe’s economic development or remain “back-
wards.” For information see Cheng-Chung Lai (ed.),
Adam Smith Across Nations: Translations and Receptions of
the Wealth of Nations (2000) and Jerry Z. Muller, Adam
Smith in His Time and Ours (1995).
Gunpowder Empires
Chapter 8, “Sultanates and Gunpowder Empires,” and
chapter 9, “The Eastward Journey of Muslim Kingship” in
John L. Esposito (ed.), The Oxford History of Islam (2000)
provides useful anecdotes and background for a lecture
comparing and contrasting cultural developments in the
Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires during this time
period. Also useful is Marshall G. S. Hodgson, The Ven-
ture of Islam, Conscience and History in a World Civiliza-
tion, Volume 3, The Gunpowder Empires and Modern Times
(1974).
CLASS ACTIVITIES
Islamic Sounds and Art
Using the Web site below, provide students with sound
recordings of Islamic music. Music and musical instru-
ments offer yet another way to analyze a society. Place
the music in context, for example, the particular region
you prefer, as every area has a unique cultural flavor. Ask
students to reflect on what they hear in the music. What
kind of instruments or voices do they hear? Male or fe-
male? What emotions does the music evoke? Once they
have discussed this you can show them the kinds of in-
struments that were used, either actual instruments (if
available) or images. Who is allowed to make music and
why? What is music used for? How does the music differ
from what they are familiar with? An excellent source of
Islamic music and its history is Music of Islam from the
Celestial Harmonies label. Th is is a sixteen-disc anthol-
ogy of music from across the Islamic world. Each CD
contains an extensive historical overview with detailed
musical information, translations of the verses, and so
on. In addition, see:
www.shira.net/lyrics.htm
www.insideworldmusic.com/library/blarab.htm
You can follow this up with a series of images of Ara-
bic calligraphy and the geometric and arabesque forms of
Islamic art (see the Web Sites section). Provide students
with information about the laws regarding the recreation
of human and animal images, then have them look at the
Arabic script. Then examine the Islamic alternatives in
art, the geometric and arabesque forms. Why does Islam
discourage the representation of human and animal
forms? What kinds of rules must artists follow if they do
represent animals or humans in painting? What is unique
about the artwork that they produce? What aspect of the
culture that influenced the development of Islamic art do
you fi nd most interesting? You might consider adding in-
formation about the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons
controversy in 2005:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jyllands-Posten_ Muhammad_
cartoons_controversy
 Chapter 14 Cultures of Splendor and Power, 1500–1780 ◆ 163

Cultures Connecting or Clashing

Another useful way to begin exploring the issues and Era of Cultural Stability
themes of this chapter is to organize a discussion and cre- for “Original” Culture
• Economy Cultural Clash
ate a matrix that allows students to compare and contrast • Trade with “Arriving”
the world in 1300 to the world in 1750. As they are doing • Government Culture
this, you can remind them of the “worlds together, worlds • Belief system (spirituality)
• Family systems
apart” theme, which should become ever more apparent • Arts/material culture
as they diagram the connections. For review, ask them to • Food
• Dress
explain why there were so many more sustained contacts Era of Cultural Clash
among different cultures in 1750 than in 1300. When • Epidemics or new diseases
Era of Cultural Loss
• New trade opportunities
cultures fi rst make contact, a period of tension follows • Resource competition • Discontinuity of experience
between the “arriving culture” and the “original culture.” • Warfare with new groups • Loss of cultural memory
• Competing belief systems • Loss of language
The outcomes of that tension can be myriad (see Model • Loss of traditional resources
• Intellectual innovations
of Cultural Contact). Will the outcome be negative? posi- • Poverty
tive? Will there be no change? Why is the outcome what • Poor health care options
Era of Reorganization • Disruption to families
it is? See B. H. Stamm and H. E. Stamm, “Ethnocultural • Loss of self-rule
and Revitalization
Aspects of Trauma and Loss in Native North America,” • Bi-cultural or multi-cultural adaptation
• Involuntary relocation
in K. Nader, N. Dubrow, and B. H. Stamm, (eds.), Cul- • Choices about self/community
tural Issues in the Treatment of Trauma and Loss: Honor- • Protected traditionalism where desired
• Recognized claims on resources
ing Differences. Once students understand this concept • Recognition of traditional government
they can begin listing—either in a group discussion or • Resurgence of language
• Resurgence of spiritual traditions
individually—the consequences of sustained contact on • Resurgence of cultural symbols
the various cultural groupings of the world. Also have • Increased family stability
them consider if an openness to cultural exchange af- • Renewed sense of health

fected a group’s survival. Which groups resisted? What

was the outcome? Which culture could or could not regu-
late and control cultural exchanges? Using the textbook Model of Cultural Contact
to remind them of the groups they have studied would be
useful. The matrix can be set up, in landscape, something
with a European map of the world from 1627 found at:
like below.
library.yale.edu/mapcoll/print_online_world.html
image 11_1720_world.jp2g.44mb
Competing Worldviews
can be useful. Ask students to hypothesize what values
To compare and contrast competing worldviews during these two maps represent within each society.
the time period covered in this chapter, a comparison of
a Chinese map of the world from the eighteenth century
found at: Architectural Glories
asia-for-teachers.educ.utas.edu.au/CD/cdx/units/ Start classroom discussion of this chapter by compar-
unit1/module1/lernact1/perspec1.htm ing images of the Palace of Versailles and the Taj Mahal.

Matrix of Cultural Contact

North America Latin America Europe Asia Africa Pacific

Arriving Culture to
Original Culture
1300
Consequences

Arriving Culture to
Original Culture
1750
Consequences
164 ◆ Chapter 14 Cultures of Splendor and Power, 1500–1780
Have students identify when and where they were built,
by whom, and for what purpose. Ask them to explain what
each symbolizes about the culture they represented dur-
ing this time period. For images see:
Chateau de Versailles:
www.chateauversailles.fr/en
Taj Mahal:
www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Taj-Mahal.html
whc.unasco.org/en/list/252
RECOMMENDED FILMS
■ Amadeus (1984, 160 min.). This award-winning film
cannot be used for its historical accuracy regarding Mo-
zart’s life. It is very inaccurate in many ways. However, the
depiction of enlightened absolutism as a way of life, the
clothing, and the music all make the use of this fi lm wor-
thy, but with caution.
■ Eighteenth-Century Woman (2000, 55 min.). This doc-
umentary describes the lives and power of upper-mid-
dle-class European women in the eighteenth century.
Although rather narrow in focus, it does provide a win-
dow into the new powers women were acquiring across
educated Europe. The video uses items at an exhibition
from the Metropolitan Museum of Art, so the visual im-
agery depicts the Enlightenment beautifully. The music
supports it as well.
■ Master and Commander (2003, 138 min.). This was
a blockbuster, feature-length fi lm, so bear this in mind
when using it. However, the producers made great efforts
to retain the story’s historical authenticity. The fi lm is set
in 1805 at the height of the Napoleonic Wars. The plot re-
volves around the British navy frigate, HMS Surprise and
its pursuit of the French privateer Acheron. The journey
takes them down the coast of Brazil and around Cape
Horn. Some of the footage was shot on a full-scale repro-
duction of Cook’s Endeavour, one of the most important
points about this fi lm. The DVD extras section has very
good materials on ships, shipbuilding, and life aboard a
nineteenth-century man of war. The scenes in the Galápa-
gos Islands provide a feel for the work of the biologist and
naturalist. You can use much from this movie.
■ The Rise to Power of Louis XIV (1966, 100 min., sub-
titled). Th is older feature-length fi lm is slow moving
and misunderstood by many viewers exactly because
of its focus on historical accuracy and the mendacity of
life. For this reason it is perfect to use in the classroom
as a way to show a day in the royal court of Louis XIV,
or as one reviewer has said, to show the “making of a Sun
King.” Choose the scene in the kitchen to show the intri-
cacies involved in preparing one meal or a conversation
between Louis and Colbert to show the strategies behind
the throne and the relative weakness of a king without the
support of his court. Set in 1661, the fi lm begins as Cardi-
nal Mazarin is dying and Louis decides to rule as well as
make the daily policy decisions.
■ Sir Isaac Newton (1998, 50 min.). Newton is often the
man used to frame the end of the scientific revolution.
Here his biography forms a platform on which to expound
on the discoveries of the period that earned Newton the
title “father of modern science.”
■ Two Coasts of China (1992, 60 min.). This documentary
spans a broad period of time, from the Mongol invasions
through the Opium Wars and the Boxer Rebellion. One
of its unique aspects is that it better represents the Chi-
nese perspective than most documentaries regarding the
tension between East and West and how the West fi nally
forced the opening of China’s ports as major trading cen-
ters. According to the producers, China’s slow response
and the Chinese belief in traditional ways of working
played a role in the West’s quick dominance. Much archi-
val footage is used.
RECOMMENDED READING
Peter Gay, 1979. The Enlightenment: An Interpretation. 2
vols.
Marshall G. S. Hodgson, 1974. The Venture of Islam,
Conscience and History in a World Civilization, Vol. 3,
“The Gunpowder Empires and Modern Times.”
Richard Hough, 1997. Captain James Cook.
Toby E. Huff, 2003. The Rise of Early Modern Science:
Islam, China and the West (2nd ed.).
Robert Hughes, 1988. Fatal Shore: The Epic of Australia’s
Founding.
Margaret Jacob, 1989. The Cultural Meaning of the
Scientific Revolution.
Donald Keene, 1969. The Japanese Discovery of Europe,
1720–1830.
Jonathan D. Spence, 1998. The Chan’s Great Continent:
China in Western Minds.
Joanna Waley-Cohen, 1999. The Sextants of Beijing:
Global Currents in Chinese History.
John E. Wills Jr, 2001. 1688: A Global History.
WEB SITES
Age of Exploration: Captain James Cook
Excellent site with a biography and accounts of each of
his voyages
www.mariner.org/educationalad/ageofex/cook.php
 Chapter 14 Cultures of Splendor and Power, 1500–1780 ◆ 165

Chateau de Versailles New Spain: The Frontiers of Faith

Official site www.humanities-interactive.org/newspain/
www.chateauversailles.fr/en/
1768—The Voyage of the Endeavour
Islamic Art: Late Islamic Art Interactive museum site
General information with images www.nhm.ac.uk/nature-online/science-of-natural-
www.lacma.org/islamic_art/lia.htm historyexpition-collecting/voyages-discovery/
endeavour.html
Kabuki Sounds
Recordings of Kabuki music on line Welcome to Edo
www.park.org/Japan/kabuki/sound.html www.columbia.edu/itc/ealac/v3613/edo/index.
html
Missionaries and Mandarins: The Jesuits in China Welcome to Isfahan
Primary-source documents www.historicisfahan.com
www.ibiblio.org/expo/vatican.exhibit/exhibit/
i-rome_to_china/Jesuits_in_China.html
CH A PTER 15

Reordering the World,

1750–1850

▶ Revolutionary Transformations and New Languages ▶ Economic Reordering

of Freedom
▶ Political Reorderings
▶ The North American War of Independence, 1776–
1783
▶ The French Revolution, 1789–1799
▶ Napoleon’s Empire, 1799–1815
▶ Revolutions in the Caribbean and Iberian America
Revolution in Saint Domingue (Haiti)
Brazil and Constitutional Monarchy
Mexico’s Independence
Other South American Revolutions
▶ Change and Trade in Africa
Abolition of the Slave Trade
New Trade with Africa
Britain’s Economic Leadership
Trading and Financing
Manufacturing
Working and Living
▶ Persistence and Change in Afro-Eurasia
Revamping the Russian Monarchy
Reforming Egypt and the Ottoman Empire
Colonial Reordering in India
Persistence of the Qing Empire
Expansion of the Empire
Problems of the Empire
The Opium War and the “Opening” of China

LECTURE OUTLINE A. The transatlantic disruption that occurred

between 1750 and 1850 had its roots in
Th is chapter covers a number of disruptive changes in
the mercantilist system of the previous century
social and economic arrangements around the world be-
B. As wealth increased, men and women who
tween 1750 and 1850. Political upheavals in the Atlantic
partook of this wealth demanded a relaxation of
world destroyed the colonial domains of Spain, Portu-
mercantilist restrictions
gal, Britain, and France in the Americas and established
1. They demanded greater freedom to trade
numerous new nations. They also produced the French
2. They demanded more influence in
Revolution and Napoleonic Wars. Together they ushered
governing institutions
in the era of the nation-state. Equally disruptive was the
C. Over time, these demands became more radical
economic transformation sweeping through Western Eu-
and revolutionary
rope and parts of North America. Not only did changes in
1. Revolutionaries championed the concept
production alter the social landscape at home, they also
of popular sovereignty, free people, free
propelled Western Europe to global preeminence. In the
trade, free markets, and free labor as a more
1830s, British gunboats easily defeated the powerful Qing
just and efficient foundation for society
dynasty over the question of trading privileges. No longer
2. The question then emerged of how far to
would the Chinese and others be able to keep Europeans
extend these freedoms
at bay. These changes often forced reflection and restruc-
a. Revolutionaries disagreed whether
turing at home.
these freedoms applied to women,
I. Revolutionary Transformations and New slaves, Native Americans, other non-
Languages of Freedom Europeans, and the propertyless

166
 Chapter 15 Reordering the World, 1750–1850 ◆ 167
D. By and large, Europeans and Euro-American
elite groups reserved these freedoms for
themselves
E. Europeans also used force to open Asian
and African markets to their trade and
investment
II. Political Reorderings
A. The spread of revolutionary ideas across
the Atlantic world in the second half of the
eighteenth century followed the trail of
Enlightenment ideas
B. As the rhetoric of revolution spread, people
disagreed over the meaning of terms such as
liberty, independence, freedom, and equality
C. These ideas spawned the American and French
Revolutions
1. In both, revolutions replaced monarchies
with republics
2. The revolutions, in turn, encouraged other
similar developments in the Caribbean and
much of Spanish America
D. After the break with monarchies, revolutionary
societies tended to break into liberals or
moderates and radicals
E. At fi rst moderates won the debate but radical
ideas proved difficult to contain
III. The North American War of Independence, 1776–
1783
A. Britain’s North American colonies proved
highly prosperous by mid-century
B. Th is prosperity masked tensions
1. Land was a constant source of dispute
2. Big planters’ interests often collided with
independent farmers’ interests.
3. Western sett lers, seeking available land,
often clashed with Indian and French
interests
a. In the Seven Years’ War, colonists and
the British military defeated the French
and their Indian allies
C. After the Seven Years’ War, the colonists
increasingly protested British administration
of the colonies, often claiming to defend their
rights as Englishmen
1. Merchants protested the Revenue Act
of 1764 designed by the British to make
the colonists contribute more to the
maintenance of the empire
D. Eventually this agitation turned into warfare
and calls for independence by pundits such as
Thomas Paine in Common Sense
E. In July 1776 the colonists declared
independence
1. The Declaration of Independence, written by
Thomas Jefferson, drew on Enlightenment
themes
F. As the Americans fought the British militarily
they began to try and develop new republican
institutions
1. States held constitutional conventions
2. These new constitutions gave sweeping
powers to the legislative branch
3. They reduced property qualifications that
determined who could vote
a. Only New Jersey allowed a limited
number of women to exercise the
franchise
G. The new revolutionary rhetoric inspired
common men to no longer defer to gentlemen
of higher rank
1. Many women demanded greater respect
and equality
2. Slaves often fled to British forces, expecting
freedom in exchange for loyalty to the
crown
3. In Shays’s Rebellion in 1786, independent
farmers in Massachusetts organized an
armed rebellion against taxes they could
not pay
H. The prospect of a radical revolution propelled
elites to convene a Constitutional Convention
in order to prevent “anarchy” from subsuming
the new nation
1. While maintaining a republican form
of government, the new constitution
substantially enhanced the power of the
federal (national) government over state
legislatures
2. It included a system of checks and balances
to deter majorities from trampling over the
rights of the minority within the federal
government
3. It eventually included a Bill of Rights
to protect individuals from the federal
government
I. While Federalists (supporters of the
Constitution) and Anti-Federalists (opponents
of the Constitution) continued to debate the
function and size of the federal government,
they kept this debate civil and within the
confi nes of the constitutional arena
J. The election of Thomas Jefferson in 1800
signaled the triumph of a new model in which
168 ◆ Chapter 15 Reordering the World, 1750–1850
social tensions would be diff used through
western expansion as land ownership became
easier
K. For the time being, the Revolution ignored
slaves, free African Americans, women, and
Native Americans
1. Gabriel Prosser’s attempted rebellion
IV. The French Revolution, 1789–1799
A. The French Revolution, even more than the
American Revolution, inspired many other
rebellions around the world that lasted into the
twentieth century
B. As in the American Revolution, Enlightenment
ideas against oppressive government had
gained legitimacy among millions and helped
propel the nation into revolution
1. In addition, harvests had been poor for
years, leading many peasants to protest
heavy tax burdens
C. King Louis XVI opened the door for reform
when he convened the Estates-General in 1788
in order to seek new forms of revenue to service
the crown’s debt
D. Reform quickly turned to revolution as
members of the Th ird Estate (the common
people) called for greater representation
1. Upon hearing of these events, peasants rose
up in the countryside to protest the feudal
dues and obligations they resented
2. On July 14, 1789, a Parisian crowd
attacked the Bastille, an infamous political
prison
3. In August, the Th ird Estate, calling itself
a national assembly, abolished feudal
privileges of the nobility and clergy and
passed a “Declaration of the Rights of Man
and Citizens”
a. It recognized political equality and
popular sovereignty
b. Some women suggested that women be
included as citizens but their petitions
were rejected
i. Olympe de Gouge completed
the “Declaration of the Rights of
Women and Citizens”
E. As the Revolution gathered speed, it split into
different directions
1. Liberals, or Girondins, wanted a
constitutional monarchy
2. Jacobins wanted to create a pure republic
with a new culture
3. When the king tried to flee the country in
1791, Jacobins gained the upper hand
a. They purged the assembly of “counter-
revolutionaries,” held new elections
using universal male suff rage in 1792,
declared France to be a republic, and
executed the king in 1793
b. They launched a “Reign of Terror”
under the leadership of Robespierre that
saw the executions of 40,000 persons
judged enemies of the state
c. The Jacobins reformed the army,
introducing universal conscription and
chose and promoted officers based on
merit, not aristocratic privileges
i. The army promoted national
identity and loyalty to the
Revolution
d. The Jacobins tried to do away with
aristocratic and Catholic influences on
the nation’s culture
i. These efforts were widely
dismissed
4. In 1794, moderates regained control of the
government
5. In 1799, in light of ineffective government,
Napoleon Bonaparte and other generals
from the army organized a coup
6. In 1804, Napoleon declared himself
emperor of the French nation
a. His reign checked the excesses of the
radical era but let many revolutionary
changes continue
b. He allowed religious freedom
c. He submitted a constitution to a
plebiscite
d. His Code Napoleon codified the nation’s
laws into one legal framework
i. The code emphasized the equality
of men and the protection of
individual property
V. Napoleon’s empire, 1799–1815
A. Napoleon envisioned a new Roman empire
based on the principles he espoused in France
B. His attempts to bring Europe under French rule
laid the foundations for nineteenth-century
nationalist strife
1. Strong local resistance appeared in Spain,
Germany, and Egypt
2. As locals in areas occupied by the French
tired of hearing that French ways were
 Chapter 15 Reordering the World, 1750–1850 ◆ 169
superior, they looked to their own past for
inspiration
C. Napoleon’s military campaigns became a global
confl ict, with fighting in Africa, Europe, and
the Americas
1. A coalition of Prussia, Austria, Russia, and
Britain fi nally defeated him in 1815
D. The victorious powers at the Congress of
Vienna redrew European borders, established
a balance of power among themselves and
France, and promised to guard against future
revolutions
1. Austria, Prussia, and Russia remained
absolutist monarchies
2. The Congress of Vienna could not turn the
clock back completely
a. In many areas, some of Napoleon’s
reforms were kept in place
i. The abolition of serfdom among
German states
b. The nationalist sentiments that French
troops stirred continued in places such
as Germany and Italy
VI. Revolutions in the Caribbean and Iberian America
A. The contagion of revolution spread to the
Caribbean and Iberian America
1. In the 1780s, Andean Indians called for
freedom from the forced labor draft and
other regulations and besieged Spanish
authorities
2. In the 1790s, slaves successfully revolted
against French authorities and French
sett lers in Saint Domingue
3. These rebellions confi rmed Iberian
American elites’ loyalty to the crowns of
Portugal and Spain for the time being
4. Even when they joined in the call for
severing colonial ties, they sought to
establish regimes less committed to
revolutionary goals than in the United
States or in France
B. Revolution in Saint Domingue (Haiti)
1. The island slaves (500,000) outnumbered
whites (40,000) and free people of color
(30,000)
2. After 1789, whites campaigned for self-
government while slaves used the language
of the French Revolution to call for
freedom
a. By 1791, the island had descended into
civil war
b. In 1792, slaves fought French troops
sent to restore order
c. In 1793, the French National
Convention abolished slavery
d. Former slaves took over the colony
3. In 1802, Napoleon tried to reassert French
authority and slavery by sending an army
of 58,000 troops to the island
a. Toussaint L’Ouverture organized
resistance among the former slaves
b. Most French troops died of disease or
wounds infl icted by guerrillas
4. In 1804, leaders declared the Republic of
Haiti
a. International recognition proved elusive
C. Brazil and constitutional monarchy
1. Brazil’s road to statehood avoided
revolution
a. When French troops occupied Portugal,
the royal Braganza family fled to Brazil
and ruled their empire from there
b. In 1821, long after liberation, the king
agreed to return to Portugal but left his
son Pedro in charge
c. When calls for independence grew
popular, Pedro declared himself
head of an independent Brazil with a
constitutional monarchy
d. He was supported by Brazilian elites
who wanted to avoid slave insurrections
or regional insurrections
i. The central government put down
revolts by gauchos in the interior
and urban slaves in Bahia
e. By the 1840s, Brazil had achieved
political stability without revolutionary
unrest
D. Mexico’s independence
1. Unlike Brazil, Mexico and other Spanish
colonies gained autonomy from the
Spanish crown during the Napoleonic
Wars
a. When the crown regained power,
creoles (American-born Spaniards)
resented the reappointment of
peninsulars (officials from Spain) to
power and wished to regain this elite
position
i. They used Enlightenment ideas to
back up their grievances
2. In Mexico between 1810 and 1813, Fathers
Hidalgo and Morelos organized a revolt
170 ◆ Chapter 15 Reordering the World, 1750–1850
of peasants, Indians, and artisans calling
for the redistribution of wealth and land
reform, among other things
a. Creoles, peninsulars, and the Spanish
army overcame the rebellion after years
of fighting
3. When the Spanish crown was unable to
prevent anarchy, the local army joined
the creoles in proclaiming Mexico’s
independence in 1821
E. Other South American revolutions
1. Men such as Simón Bolívar and San Martín
waged wars for independence in the rest of
Spain’s colonies from 1810 until 1824
a. Th is warfare mobilized Indians,
mestizos, and slaves as well as elites
2. When the wars of liberation ended, civil
war erupted between different social,
ethnic, and religious groups
3. Multiple new states rather than a united
federation appeared, and they were
controlled by social elites and usually ruled
by caudillos (military chieftains)
VII. Change and Trade in Africa
A. Increased domestic and world trade led to new
state-building
1. New and powerful kingdoms emerged
around Lake Victoria in the fi rst half of the
nineteenth century
B. Abolition of the slave trade
1. In the aftermath of the American and
French Revolutions, a small group of
abolitionists emerged, often led by
Quakers, who wanted to end the slave trade
2. Soon they achieved success
a. Denmark banned the slave trade in 1803
b. Great Britain banned it in 1807, and the
United States banned it in 1808
c. France followed in 1814
d. By 1850, the amount of slaves traded
had dropped sharply
e. In 1867 the last slave vessel crossed the
Atlantic
3. The British navy was instrumental in
suppressing the slave trade and enforcing
these bans
a. Both Sierra Leone and Liberia on the
West African coast became home
to freed captives and former slaves
returning from America
C. New trade with Africa
1. European traders promoted new forms of
commerce, dubbed “legitimate” trade, after
the demise of the slave trade
a. West Africans began to export palm oil,
peanuts, and vegetable oils
b. Some deforestation occurred because of
new export crops
2. Th is new legitimate trade gave rise to new
political and commercial powers
a. New merchants amassed new
fortunes
i. William Heddle of Sierra Leone
ii. Jaja of Opobo
iii. William Lewis
b. For some states, the demise of the slave
trade was a disaster
i. The Asante state wavered but
endured
ii. The Yoruba state fell
3. The end of the slave trade strengthened
slavery in Africa
a. More and more slaves were used for
fieldwork or as porters, not domestic
servants
b. The Fulani Emirates of northern Nigeria
had a population that was 80 percent
slave
c. Africa became the largest slaveholding
continent in the nineteenth century
VIII. Economic reordering
A. The political upheavals shattered the old
mercantilist system that encouraged an
economic transformation known as the
industrial revolution
1. By 1850, people in Western Europe
and North America were wealthier and
healthier than their counterparts anywhere
else
2. Western European nations, especially
Britain, were using this economic power
to increase their political and economic
power around the world
3. Why this area, and not China or India,
advanced has long perplexed historians and
economists
B. Britain’s economic leadership
1. A large number of factors came into play
in the late eighteenth century to produce
Britain’s economic transformation
a. Britain had a large accessible source of
coal and iron ore
 Chapter 15 Reordering the World, 1750–1850 ◆ 171
b. Technological innovations, especially
the steam engine, appeared
c. Britain had an effective system to
mobilize capital
d. Britain had a well-developed internal
market
e. British merchants had access to most of
the world’s markets
f. Britain had a large and adaptable labor
force eager (or forced) to work for
wages
g. Agricultural production had increased,
allowing for more food with relatively
fewer farmers
i. Th is in turn led to the growth of
urban areas
ii. It also increased the pool of wage
laborers
2. Th is transformation spread and organized
a new division of labor around the world
a. Britain and other industrial societies
increasingly exported manufactured
goods to dependencies or colonies in
exchange for agricultural products
b. Free trade and free labor was the new
economic ideology
C. Trading and fi nancing
1. New products such as tea and soap joined
sugar and silver as strong international
commercial commodities
2. In industrial societies, even the poor could
afford these and other products
3. Merchants reaped the greatest reward from
this expansion of international trade and
gained higher status
a. They provided fi nancing (took risks)
b. Accountants and lawyers also profited
4. Th is new class of commercial men and
women were known as the “bourgeoisie”
5. The bourgeoisie’s rise to prominence
altered the social and political equation
a. Many assumed positions of authority
i. The Rothschilds, a German Jewish
family, amassed huge fortunes and
influence, loaning money to kings
and governments
b. The bourgeoisie invested in trade in
various places in the world and began to
pressure governments to protect these
endeavors
c. The bourgeoisie also began to push for
free trade
i. The fi rst region of the world to
practice free trade was Latin
America
a. The British seized on this
opportunity for cheap
foodstuffs and other staples
ii. By the 1840s, the British had ended
most protectionist regulations and
adopted the att itude that domestic
wealth depended on the export of
industrial goods and the import of
basic commodities
D. Manufacturing
1. In the late eighteenth century, the buildup
of technical knowledge allowed for huge
improvements in manufacturing
a. The steam engine developed by James
Watt of Scotland and others was
paramount here
i. Steam power allowed for trains
and steamships that revolutionized
transportation
ii. Steam power also greatly improved
iron production, sugar refi ning,
pottery making, and textile
production
2. One of the fi rst areas to be revolutionized
by these technological innovations was the
textile industry in Britain
a. From 1782–1812, the price of cotton
cloth declined by 90 percent
b. The cotton gin allowed the American
South to become Britain’s principal
supplier of cotton
c. By 1848, cotton textiles were 40 percent
of Britain’s exports
3. Th is process gradually spread to other
European nations and North America
E. Working and living
1. The industrial revolution altered where and
how people worked for all those caught in
its tentacles
a. Increasingly Europe’s workers dwelled
in cities
i. Cities were not healthy places
b. Children, wives, and husbands worked
outside the home for often paltry
wages
i. Real wages did not begin to rise
until after 1850
ii. Idleness meant no source of
income
172 ◆ Chapter 15 Reordering the World, 1750–1850
c. Hours were long and conditions often
unsafe
d. A more rigid concept of work developed
i. Employers used clocks to impose
discipline and measure efficiency
e. The impact of the industrial revolution
caused widespread concern
i. Luddites smashed machines that
had pushed workers out of work
ii. Reformers and novelists publicized
deplorable conditions and
advocated reforms
a. Charlotte Brontë, Shirley
b. Charles Dickens, Hard Times
c. Friedrich Engels, The Condition
of the Working Class in England
2. Th is economic reordering transformed all
aspects of the lives of those caught up in it
a. It altered what they traded and what
they consumed
b. It required new methods of mobilizing
capital
c. It changed patterns and rhythms of
work routines
d. It changed where people worked and
lived and family size and arrangements
e. It changed how those caught up in
industrialism viewed those who were
not
IX. Persistence and Change in Afro-Eurasia
A. Between 1750 and 1850, Europeans altered the
status quo in Eurasia in order to secure “free”
access to these markets
B. Revamping the Russian monarchy
1. Russia emerged victorious after Napoleon’s
invasion in 1812, but Napoleon’s
presence had presented an alternative to
the absolutist system and serfdom that
sustained the Romanov dynasty
2. When Alexander I died in 1825, some elites
(Decembrists) called for a constitutional
monarchy modeled on Britain and France
or even a republic
3. The new tsar, Nicholas I, suppressed this
reform movement
4. To avoid further dissent Nicholas projected
the image of tsar as the head of the family
and created a secret police force to root out
opposition
5. In the 1830s, he preached a conservative
philosophy stressing “Orthodoxy,
Autocracy, and Folk Nationality,”
that romanticized the people without
enfranchising them
C. Reforming Egypt and the Ottoman Empire
1. The Ottoman Empire was also shaken by
Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt
2. In the wake of the French invasions,
reformist energies swept Egypt and the
Ottoman Empire
3. In Egypt, Muhammad Ali brought a series
of widespread reforms
a. He looked to France as a model for
Egypt
i. The key to stability was a strong
army
ii. He hired French advisers to
develop a modern army
b. He pursued education and agricultural
reforms
i. He established schools of medicine
and engineering
ii. He made Egypt a major cotton
exporter
c. His reforms altered the lives of the
common people
d. Eventually, his threat to Ottoman rule
compelled Europeans to force him to
reduce the size of his military and allow
unimpeded access to Egyptian markets
4. Pressure from Egypt and Europe forced
reforms on the Ottoman Empire
a. Sultan Selim III tried to reduce the
power of the janissaries in 1805 and
to create a modern army but they
overthrew him in response
i. Clerics also resisted efforts to
modernize the empire
ii. Sultans did not want to appeal
to common people for support
in light of the multiethnic and
multireligious nature of the empire
b. Mahmud II ended this political
deadlock during his reign; his reforms
and those of his successors were known
as the Tanzimat
i. In 1826, he eliminated the
janissaries with clerical support
ii. He then proceeded to use
European advisers to create a
modern army
iii. Schools began to teach European
languages and sciences

c. These reforms were not revolutionary
i. Landowners resisted land reform
ii. Merchants resisted fi nancial
reform
d. Th roughout the nineteenth century,
the empire fell further behind Europe
in terms of military and economic
power, and the dynasty became
fi nancially dependent on Europe for
its survival
D. Colonial reordering in India
1. The English East India Company
increasingly dominated India
a. Officials extracted a proclamation from
the Mughal emperor in 1765 allowing
the Company to collect tax revenue in
Bengal and other places and the right to
trade freely throughout the empire
b. In return, the company paid the
emperor a fi xed fee
c. After annexing more territory, the
Company ruled over 200 million people
by the early 1800s and became the
dominant power in the subcontinent
2. The Company adopted a government
structure to rule the territory
a. It used Hindu kings and Muslim princes
in its administrative structure
b. It maintained a large standing army
of 155,000 soldiers, one-third of them
native recruits (sepoys)
c. It brought in English scholars in order to
learn about Indian society, culture, and
history
i. The Asiatic society formed
3. Company rule altered the lives of Indians
in many ways
a. Its policies promoted private property
and undercut village autonomy
b. Colonial cities such as Calcutta,
Madras, and Bombay grew
i. Europeans lived in enclaves
ii. Indian rural migrants lived in
crowded “black towns”
4. In Britain, the Company’s position in India
generated calls for an end to its monopoly
on trade with the subcontinent
a. In 1813, Parliament ended its monopoly
5. India now served all of industrializing
Britain
a. It became a major market for British
textiles and a major exporter of cotton
to British factories
Chapter 15 Reordering the World, 1750–1850 ◆ 173
b. Partial deindustrialization occurred as
India’s traditional cotton manufacturing
sector declined
6. British reformers began to call for changes
in Hindu and Muslim society
a. They demanded an end to the sati
7. Increasingly, officials and scholars began
to view Indians as backward and in need of
enlightenment
a. Educational and administrative
institutions began to stress the English
language and European ideas
8. India became a full-fledged colony as
Indian merchants, intellectuals, and
manufacturers were all forced to play a
subordinate role to the British and their
needs
E. Persistence of the Qing Empire
1. Expansion of the empire
a. Emperor Qianlong expanded the
empire to the north and the west
b. As a result, increased agricultural
productivity allowed for greater
commercialization and increased state
revenue
2. Problems of the empire
a. Rulers did not pay attention to what was
happening in the Atlantic world
i. In 1793, Qianlong expressed no
need to acquire European products
3. Unsett ling trends began to emerge
a. The population expanded to 300 million
b. The Qing dynasty, which taxed lightly,
found it difficult to administer the realm
i. Many local officials grew corrupt
4. Several rural rebellions against the dynasty
occurred
5. By the mid-nineteenth century, the
Chinese could no longer ignore European
powers
6. The Opium War and the “opening of China”
a. By the eighteenth century, opium
consumption had spread throughout
China despite official bans
b. The English East India Company fueled
this consumption by smuggling opium
from India into China in order to
purchase Chinese tea
i. The use of opium cut down on the
need to pay for Chinese goods with
silver
ii. Silver began to flow out of China,
reversing a long-term trend
174 ◆ Chapter 15 Reordering the World, 1750–1850
c. In 1834, Parliament ended the
Company’s trade monopoly with China,
meaning more merchants could provide
opium for Chinese addicts
d. In 1838, Lin Zexu, a court official, tried
to end the opium trade and enforce the
ban
e. In 1840, a British fleet retaliated by
bombarding the coastal regions and
sailing up rivers
f. To restore order, the Qing sued for
peace
i. They agreed to cede the island of
Hong Kong to the British
ii. They agreed to pay an indemnity
for the war
iii. They opened five “treaty” ports to
foreign trade and sett lement
iv. They agreed to extraterritoriality
for European residents
X. Conclusion
A. Changes wrought by politics, ideas, commerce,
industry, and technology unleashed an
upheaval in the Atlantic world that disrupted
polities everywhere
B. The world remained multicentered, but
economic power was shift ing to the western
end of the Eurasian land mass
LECTURE IDEAS
Britain’s Industrial Revolution
The question of why Britain was the fi rst to experience
the process referred to as the industrial revolution has
fascinated historians for decades. Kenneth Pomeranz’s
The Great Divergence: China, Europe, and the Making of
the Modern World Economy (2000) provides the basis of
a good lecture on the topic that not only introduces the
basic processes that began to transform the world in the
late eighteenth century, but also challenges students’ in-
herited assumptions about Western superiority, a legacy
of the Enlightenment explored in chapter 15.
The First Opium War
A lecture on the fi rst Opium War can highlight several
themes in this chapter. First and foremost, it demonstrates
the shift ing economic and military balance of power from
the eastern to the western end of Eurasia. Second, it offers
a chance to introduce Britain’s shift from a philosophy of
mercantilism to one of free trade when it came to foreign
economic policy in the nineteenth century. You could
also bring in the repeal of the Corn Laws, which occurred
at roughly the same time. Th ird, it provides an opportu-
nity to explore Western Europeans’ changing perceptions
of other Eurasian societies such as China during this
period and their growing sense of superiority. Last, but
not least, the episode reveals the important role the drug
trade played in the world economy. It can be juxtaposed
against contemporary times. In particular, students can
usually be prodded into a lively discussion of the merits
of legalizing drugs, much as the Qing dynasty consid-
ered the matter over a century ago. Kenneth Pomeranz
and Steven Topik’s The World That Trade Created: Society,
Culture, and the World Economy, 1400–The Present (1999)
treats this issues in an intriguing and concise manner in
chapter 3. Also useful are Peter Ward Fay, The Opium War,
1840–1842: Barbarians in the Celestial Empire in the Early
Part of the Nineteenth Century and the War by Which They
Forced Her Gates Ajar (1975); Jack Beeching, The Chinese
Opium Wars (1977); and Arthur Waley, The Opium War
Through Chinese Eyes (1979).
Africa and the End of the Atlantic Slave Trade
A lecture on the impact that the end of the slave trade had
on Africa is crucial to this period in world history. A dis-
cussion about this process explores the economic reorder-
ing occurring in the Atlantic world, often brought about
in the revolution in politics and ideas. It also dispels the
myth of the “Dark Continent” that lingers in students’
minds. Any discussion should include political and eco-
nomic changes, and the exploration of entrepreneurs such
as Jaja of Opobo. For references, see J. F. Ade Ajayi, ed.
UNESCO General History of Afr ica, vol 6, Africa in the
Nineteenth Century until the 1880s (1989) and Robin Law,
ed. From Slave Trade to “Legitimate” Commerce: The Com-
mercial Transition in Nineteenth-Century West Africa (Afri-
can Studies, No 86, 1995).
Women in Science and Women as Science
Into the Victorian period, women continued to be viewed
as less than second-class citizens. Educated women were
exposed to the att itudinal changes regarding human rights
and social reform. Often they were active agents of change.
But for them these changes came far too slowly. Men char-
acterized marriage as a kind of living hell. One argument
suggested that for a man marriage was the “torture de-
vised by God to make up for original sin.” The scientific
revolution began to offer the opportunity to undo some
of these misconceptions, but change came slowly. By the
eighteenth century it was believed that women’s illnesses
were the result of hysteria and could be solved with ev-

erything from starvation to sex to no sex. Simultaneously,
women were accomplishing a great deal in science with
very litt le training and against legal and cultural dictates.
A lecture describing the troubles of these middle- and
upper-class women, who formed a significant part of the
population, is long overdue.
European Unrest
To set the stage for the coming workers’ revolts, you can
explain the growing discontent in Europe by the end of
this period. Too often students seem to think that Marx
and Engels arose out of the shadows, not realizing the
horrific conditions that working-class people lived in. Be-
tween the Opium Wars, in 1848, Europe was beset with
protests. The rebellions cited poor working conditions,
poor pay, famine, change of government, ownership laws,
and other factors. The notion of nationalism was on the
rise, as explained in the activity on the “Marseillaise.”
National fervor was especially strong in those areas with
common cultural and linguistic bonds but no state soli-
darity, namely Italy and Germany. Uprisings occurred in
Berlin, Vienna, Prague, Budapest, Catalonia, Wallachia,
Poland, and Britain. People demanded self-rule and de-
mocracy. Amid this turmoil Karl Marx and Friedrich En-
gels published the Communist Manifesto. Their message
created a spark. A discussion on these underlying political
currents would be fruitful groundwork for later events.
Having students analyze primary-source documents
can also help bring home the dramatic impact of eco-
nomic changes in the Atlantic world on everyday peoples’
lives. Several documents exploring the impact of industri-
alism on workers, women, cities, etc. can be found at “The
Internet Modern History Sourcebook: The Industrial
Revolution”:
www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook14.html
and at “Women in World History Curriculum: The Plight
of Women’s Work in the Early Industrial Revolution in
England and Wales”:
www.womeninworldhistory.com/lesson7.
html#documents
Have students identify the variety of ways the indus-
trial revolution shaped societies in the early nineteenth
century. Then ask them to analyze how these changes
challenged ideas about politics, work, gender, the role of
government, social hierarchies, etc.
The Crimean War
The Crimean War marked a turning point in people’s att i-
tudes about war and violence. A number of new inventions
that were applied in this war created the shift . Th is was the
Chapter 15 Reordering the World, 1750–1850 ◆ 175
fi rst war where images of soldiers wounded on the batt le-
field were published around the world, even before the
famous Civil War photographs. The public at home was ap-
palled by the gruesome images. Th is war was not the civi-
lized affair that earlier Europe imagined. It was dirty, all
out, and violent. The weapons were industrial, and thus the
wounds were far worse. In response, Florence Nightingale
and others left Britain to go to the front and set up hos-
pitals. Nightingale devised the stringent sanitation rules,
which saved many lives in her hospitals in the Crimea and
later in England. Nightingale singlehandedly modernized
the medical field in regard to germ theory. The suffering
from this war also led Henri Dunant to start the Interna-
tional Red Cross, the fi rst international aid organization.
These are only a few of the changes that occurred at this
historic time, but the events continue to touch us today.
How they developed is worth discussing.
Mass-produced Porcelain: Wedgwood
For a discussion on the rise of consumerism, industrial-
ism, and a new bourgeoisie in Europe, an exploration of
Josiah Wedgwood’s endeavors to mass produce porcelain
in eighteenth-century Britain can be stimulating. Wedg-
wood pioneered many of the processes associated with
business and industry in the nineteenth century such
as the use of steam engines, standardized products, and
marketing campaigns. Nancy F. Koehn’s Brand New: How
Entrepreneurs Earned Consumers’ Trust from Wedgwood to
Dell (2001) offers useful information here.
CLASS ACTIVITIES
Popular Sovereignty and Equality
A group activity can help reinforce the promises and am-
biguities of the political reordering in the Atlantic world
between 1750 and 1850. Ideas such as popular sovereignty
and equality before the law called into question numerous
assumptions about race and gender. Divide students into
small groups and have them analyze documents exploring
this legacy. For example, one group could read Thomas
Paine’s “African Slavery in America”:
www.thomaspaine.org/Archives/afri.html
Another could examine his “An Occasional Letter on
the Female Sex”:
www.thomaspaine.org/Archives/occ.html
Amistad Trial
Using the primary trial documents from the Amistad trial,
set up a mock trial and assign roles for your students, i.e.,
176 ◆ Chapter 15 Reordering the World, 1750–1850
journalists, judge, prosecutor, defense attorney, abolition-
ists, and so on. For each character provide a profi le and the
position that each must try to prove. You can make this
more or less complex depending on the available amount
of time. Allow prosecutors and defense attorneys to call
witnesses and expect witnesses to be capable of respond-
ing. Require your journalists to write news reports and
your abolitionists to write broadsides for their support-
ers. Or you could have students go to the Web site below
and explore the primary-source documents from the trial,
then create an argument that supports their position.
In class you can debate the outcome of the trial and the
various positions and whether it seemed that the evidence
supported the outcome or not. See Exploring Amistad at
Mystic Seaport Museum:
www.amistadamerica.org/index.php?option=com_
content&task=section&id=12&Itemid=100
Wedgwood and the New Pastime of Collecting
For a discussion on the rise of consumerism, industrial-
ism, and a new bourgeoisie in Europe, an exploration of
Josiah Wedgwood’s endeavors to mass-produce porcelain
in eighteenth-century Britain can be stimulating. But
fi rst it is important for students to understand that until
this point even upper-class people didn’t purchase many
items. They were not avid consumers. The concept of col-
lecting, which Wedgwood helped to pioneer, the idea of
average individuals purchasing art in stores, and owner-
ship of multiples of items such as snuff boxes and canes
was novel and exciting. It seemed hedonistic to many peo-
ple, hence the move to asceticism. Shopping, a novel idea
for upper and middle class alike, became possible because
of the rise in expendable income. To help students get a
sense of what material life was like, have them look at the
inventory of an upper-class southern plantation owner,
Moore Fauntleroy, written in 1791. Fauntleroy lived in the
Virginia area; you can tell from the number of slaves that
he owned that he was relatively successful. Then have stu-
dents list their personal possessions at home. Can they do
it? Next, introduce them to Wedgwood, who pioneered
many of the processes associated with business and indus-
try in the nineteenth century, such as the use of steam en-
gines, standardized products, and marketing campaigns.
If possible show them real Wedgwood pieces. If not you
can go to the Wedgwood Museum site and show them nu-
merous images of Wedgwood pieces:
www.wedgwoodmuseum.org.uk/welcome.htm
Nancy F. Koehn’s Brand New: How Entrepreneurs Earned
Consumers’ Trust from Wedgwood to Dell (2001) offers
useful information. Consider also Vanessa R. Schwartz,
Spectacular Realities: Early Mass Culture in Fin-de-Siècle
Paris; Gustave Flaubert, Madame Bovary; and Michael B.
Miller, The Bon Marché: Bourgeois Culture and the Depart-
ment Store, 1869–1920.
Nationalism
One of the major developments in the period covered in
this chapter is the emergence of the nation-state and new
concepts of political and community identity within the
Atlantic world. To introduce this new identity, play “The
Marsellaise” to students. Be sure to give them the words
to the song as well. You can download an instrumental
version of the song and locate the lyrics at:
www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod.marseill.html
The conclusion of the chapter states that nation-states
had “new symbols of authority, national armies, and a
mystique of self-governing communities” centered on
“redefi ned social hierarchies of class, gender, and color.”
Ask students to analyze how “The Marsellaise” captures
this transition. To whom does it appeal? How does it ex-
press new symbols of authority? How does it represent the
ideas of the revolutions in the Atlantic world during this
period?
The Steam Engine
To begin a discussion of the industrial revolution, and to
put it in a broad context, explore the steam engine with
students. At:
www.bbc.co.uk/historybritish/victorians/launch_
am_beam_engine.shtml
there is an animated version of a steam engine used as a
water pump during the nineteenth century. Use this ani-
mation to explore how a steam engine worked. Ask stu-
dents to name other uses for this technology. Finally, ask
them to compare the steam engine to the Internet today.
The goal of this exercise is to demonstrate how the steam
engine, like the Internet, allowed people to do what they
already did, in many cases, much more efficiently. And
like the Internet, the steam engine brought about new
work patterns, new business organizations, changes in
outlook, and so on.
RECOMMENDED FILMS
■ Amistad (1997, 152 min.). This historically based drama
is set in 1837 and uses the powerful events surrounding a
shipboard slave revolt on which to stage the story. What is
remarkable is that the fictional account is so close to the
real event in which the leader of the rebels is tried in an
American court of law and found innocent. A plethora of

primary-source documents remain of the events allowing
us to “look over the shoulder” of the defense attorney in
this moving docudrama.
■ Babette’s Feast (1987, 103 min.). You needn’t show this
fi lm in full, but brief scenes will succeed in conveying to
the students the dramatic population shift due to industry
and urban growth. People moved away from places such
as the sett ing for Babette’s Feast—Jutland in Denmark—
that could no longer provide jobs and growth industries.
Whole communities were dying as young people left for
America and Australia. Th is visually rich movie is slow
paced but fi lled with symbolism and religious meaning.
■ Burn! (1969, 115 min.). This film remains an important
template for the “selling” of war. Set on the imaginary
Caribbean island of Queimada, the fi lm depicts nine-
teenth-century economic imperialism. The British send
a professional mercenary to agitate among the African
slaves. He sells a war, making promises he never intends
to keep as a way to get the Maroons to rise up against the
Portuguese. Fabulous depictions of class structures, sugar
plantations, colonial att itudes.
■ Daughters of Free Men (30 min.). This documentary
describes daily life in nineteenth-century factories and
textile mills through the eyes of one girl. It recounts the
difficulties the girls had in maintaining any independence,
unlike girls in rural areas. An excellent website with sup-
porting documents and teaching resources available at:
www.ashp.cuny.edu/video/daughter.html
■ Havelaar (1970, 169 min.). Based on the famous novel
by Eduard Douwes Dekker (pseudonymn Multatuli) of
the same name, this Dutch fi lm takes place in Java during
the 1850s. It does an excellent job of showing the excesses
of the nineteenth-century Dutch “cultivation system” and
colonial corruption and indifference in the East Indies.
Havelaar tries to protect the Javanese under Dutch indi-
rect rule (read neglect) by replacing it with direct rule by
Dutch civil servants. When Multatuli (a former civil ser-
vant) originally published this book in 1860, it inspired
dramatic political and social controversy.
■ History of Sex: From Don Juan to Queen Victoria (100
min.). Th is section of the History of Sex series focuses
on the dramatic shift in European sexual mores from
the eighteenth century to nineteenth-century Victorian
Europe. It discusses the uses of birth control, marriage,
medical and scientific ideas about the body, and same-sex
relationships.
■ The Luddites (50 min.). Set in 1812, this documentary
recounts the revolutionary response of some English who
Chapter 15 Reordering the World, 1750–1850 ◆ 177
feel their lives are being taken over by new machines when
mechanical looms and spinning jennies are introduced.
■ The Opium War (1997, 150 min.). This historical drama
has been the subject of much controversy, but the general
consensus is that it is a daring and brilliant recounting of
the Opium Wars and the motivations behind them. Made
in 1997 to celebrate the return to China of Hong Kong,
ceded to the British as a result of the Opium Wars, the
fi lm criticizes the Chinese bureaucracy and British gov-
ernment, and greed alike. It is worth showing at least a
portion of this fi lm to your students.
RECOMMENDED READING
J. F. Ade Ajayi, ed., 1989. UNESCO General History of
Africa, vol 6, Africa in the Nineteenth Century until the
1880s.
Olivier Bernier, 2000. The World in 1800.
Neill Ferguson, 1999. The House of Rothschild: Money’s
Prophets, 1798–1848.
Resat Kasab, 1988. The Ottoman Empire and the World
Economy: The Nineteenth Century.
Jay Kinsbruner, 1994. Independence in Spanish America.
Lester Langley, 1996. The Americas in the Age of
Revolution, 1750–1850.
Roger Louis, ed., 1998. The Oxford History of the British
Empire, Vol. 3.
Kevin H. O’Rourke, Jeff rey G. Williamson, 2001.
Globalization and History : The Evolution of a
Nineteenth-Century Atlantic Economy.
Kenneth Pomeranz, 2000. The Great Divergence: China,
Europe, and the Making of the Modern World
Economy.
Peter Stearns, 1993. The Industrial Revolution in World
History.
Peter Ward Fay, 1975. The Opium War, 1840–1842:
Barbarians in the Celestial Empire in the Early Part
of the Nineteenth Century and the War by Which
They Forced Her Gates Ajar.
WEB SITES
Abolition of Slavery
www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/slavery/
The American Revolution
Primary-source documents with teaching materials
www.archives.gov/education/lessons/revolution-
images/
178 ◆ Chapter 15 Reordering the World, 1750–1850
A Chronology of the French Revolution
A good way to grasp a complex situation
faculty.unlv.edu/gbrown/hist462/resources/
chrono.htm
A Haitian Revolution Primer
A great deal of material, including timeline and links
thelouvertureproject.org/index.
php?title=A_Haitian_Revolution_Primer
Indian Army
Thorough history of Indians in the British army
indianarmy.nic.in/arhist1.htm
Liberty, Equality, Fraternity
Excellent, multifaceted site on the French Revolution
chnm.gmu.edu/revolution/
Making the Modern World: The Textiles Industry
www.makingthemodernworld.org.uk/learning _
modules/history/01.TU.01/?section=1
Manas: The East India Company
General overview
www.sscnet.ucla.edu/southasia/History/British/
EAco.html
Women in World History Curriculum: The Plight of
Women’s Work in the Early Industrial Revolution in
England and Wales
www.womeninworldhistory.com/lesson7.html
CH A PTER 16
Alternative Visions of the
Nineteenth Century
▶ Reactions to Social and Political Change
▶ Prophecy and Revitalization in the Islamic World and
Africa
The Era of Islamic Expansion and the Flowering of
the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal Empires
Was Over
Islamic Revitalization
Wahhabism
Dan Fodio and the Fulani
Charismatic Military Men in Non-Islamic Africa
▶ Prophecy and Rebellion in China
China’s Taiping Rebellion, Unlike Those in the
Islamic World and Africa, Arose in an Area
with some Western Influences
Rising Population, Coupled with Rising Opium Use
and Debt, Had Put Increased Pressure on Land
and Resources
LECTURE OUTLINE
Th roughout the nineteenth century, a new global order
emerged based on the ideas of the French and American
revolutions, laissez-faire capitalism, the nation-state, new
technologies, and industrial organizations. Its triumph
was not preordained. In various areas and among diverse
peoples, alternative movements periodically surfaced to
challenge this future. These rebellions, whether they ema-
nated from political radicals, charismatic prophets, peas-
ant movements, or anti-imperialist insurgents, developed
countervisions to the emerging status quo. The confl ict
over the future, in many ways, was the distinguishing fea-
ture of world history during this century.
I. Reactions to Social and Political Change
A. Everywhere the transformations of the late
eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries upset
people’s lives and established ways
Lack of Authority and Respect for the Qing Dynasty
Following the Loss to the British in the Opium
Wars Paved the Way for the Taiping Rebellion
of 1850
The Dream
The Rebellion
▶ Utopians, Socialists, and Radicals in Europe
Restoration and Resistance
Critics of the Restoration Were Varied
▶ Insurgencies against Colonizing and Centralizing
States
Alternative to the Expanding United States: Native
American Prophets
Alternative to the Central State: The Caste War of
the Yucatán
The Rebellion of 1857 in India
1. In Europe, political and economic
revolutions overturned the old order
2. In North America, the United States’
conquest of lands and expansion upset
Indian groups
3. In Latin America, new nation-states
struggled to sustain order
4. In Asia and Africa, rulers had to come
to terms with European economic and
military power
B. Dissidents in all areas emerged to propose
alternative scenarios that drew upon their own
traditions as well as their contacts with outside
disruptive forces
1. In one pattern, particularly in the Islamic
Middle East, Islamic Africa, non-Islamic
Africa, and China, alternative perspectives
were shaped by the disruption of European
commerce
179
180 ◆ Chapter 16 Alternative Visions of the Nineteenth Century
a. These areas saw the emergence
of leaders who believed that their
own traditions required
rejuvenation
2. In another pattern, mainly in Europe
and the Americas, utopians and radicals
envisioned more equitable rearrangements
to the order created by the industrial and
political revolutions
a. The most radical envisioned a socialist
alternative
3. The third pattern emerged among the
colonized peoples
a. Indigenous peoples in the Americas and
South Asia struggled to defend their
traditional worlds
C. All these movements shared four traits
1. All of them opposed some form of
established authority
2. They were steeped in local historical and
cultural traditions
3. They advocated new political and social
arrangements
4. They either took place far from the center
of the new order or were led by people on
the margins
II. Prophecy and Revitalization in the Islamic world
and Africa
A. The era of Islamic expansion and the flowering
of the Ottoman, Safavid, and Mughal empires
was over
1. European power encroached upon the
Islamic world
2. Prophets emerged who urged revival
and restoration of theocratic
governments
3. Non-Islamic Africa was also transformed
by the new emerging European trading
regime and also witnessed the rise of
charismatic leaders who drew strength
from spiritual and magical traditions
B. Islamic revitalization
1. Movements to revitalize Islam took place
on the peripheries
2. Wahhabism
a. Muhammad Ibn abd al-Wahhab
preached that the local population of the
Najd region of the Arabian peninsula
had become too religiously lax in the
late eighteenth century
i. Wahhabism swept across the
peninsula
ii. Followers sacked Shiite shrines
and overtook the holy cities of
Mecca and Medina
iii. The Ottomans used Muhammad
Ali of Egypt and his army to put
down the revolt
3. Dan Fodio and the Fulani
a. Muslim revolts emerged in West
Africa in the late eighteenth and early
nineteenth centuries
i. The Fulani people sought to
recreate a purer Islamic past
ii. The Fulani Muslim cleric and
prophet Usman dan Fodio created
a vast empire
a. He waged jihad against
unbelievers
b. He especially targeted Hausa
rulers deemed too lax in their
religion and too tolerant of
nonbelievers
b. Fulani women of North Nigeria made
critical contributions to religious
revolt
i. Men expected women to be
modest but to support their
community
ii. Best-known female Muslim leader
was Nana Asa’u
c. Eventually a new state emerged—the
Sokoto Caliphate—that avidly
promoted the growth of Islam
C. Charismatic military men in non-Islamic Africa
1. In southern Africa, in the early nineteenth
century, the Mfecane revolt reordered the
political map
a. The Bantu population in southern
Africa had grown to strain the resources
of the land
b. Shaka Zulu, son of a minor chief,
possessed great military and
organizational skills, and emerged to
create a ruthless warrior state to replace
the modest chieftaincies
i. He assimilated many conquered
peoples
ii. Other peoples duplicated his
efforts in response to the threat his
new state posed
 Chapter 16 Alternative Visions of the Nineteenth Century ◆ 181
a. The states of Ndebele and Sotho
emerged
c. Shaka’s power stemmed from the
tradition of “big men” in the area who
emerged at times of crisis and social
change
i. Shaka and other leaders forged new
states and built new ethnic and
kinship ties using long-standing
religious and cultural symbols
III. Prophecy and Rebellion in China
A. China’s Taiping Rebellion, unlike those in the
Islamic world and Africa, arose in an area with
some Western influences
B. Rising population, coupled with rising opium
use and debt, had put increased pressure on
land and resources
C. Lack of authority and respect for the Qing
dynasty following the loss to the British in the
Opium Wars paved the way for the Taiping
Rebellion of 1850
1. The rebellion drew on China’s tradition of
peasant revolts rooted in religious sects
2. Women played an important role
D. The dream
1. Hong Xiuquan was a native of Guangdong
province
a. He encountered Western missionaries
while preparing for the civil service
examination in the 1830s
2. On failing the exam, he began to have
visions that led him to forming the Society
of God Worshipers and the Taiping
Heavenly Kingdom
a. Confucius and women generals were in
the visions
b. The “Old Father” wanted Hong to
return home and rescue the world from
corruption and debauchery
3. Hong reportedly realized the significance
of the dream on reading a Christian tract in
1843
a. Hong believed that he was the son of
Lord Ye-huo-hua (Jehovah) and that
Jesus was his brother
b. Like Jesus, Hong believed he had been
sent to save the world
E. The rebellion
1. Hong began preaching and converting in
the surrounding areas
2. His followers lived in contradiction to
Chinese traditions of hierarchy, patriarchy,
and religion
a. His fi rst followers came from the
margins of society
b. Converts could not consume alcohol,
opium, or indulge in sensual pleasure
c. Men and women were segregated for
administrative and residential
purposes
i. Women were allowed to serve in
the Taiping army or bureaucracy
d. All land was divided among families
according to need
i. Men and women received equal
shares
3. In 1850, full-fledged rebellion began
against the hated Manchus
a. In 1851, Hong set up the Taiping
kingdom with its capital at Nanjing,
declaring himself the Heavenly King
b. In 1853, Taiping rebels captured
Nanjing and systematically killed
Manchu men, women, and children
c. Han and Manchu elites rallied to the
dynasty’s side
d. Westerners also supported the Qing
i. Believed Taiping’s doctrine
represented a perversion of
Christianity
4. Qing forces crushed the rebellion and
killed Hong in 1864
5. Rebels became an inspiration for further
reform
IV. Utopians, Socialists, and Radicals in Europe
A. Restoration and resistance
1. The social and political unrest between
1815 and 1848 stemmed from the
ambiguous legacies of the French
Revolution and the Napoleonic Wars
2. Political innovation meant that there
were a variety of different state forms and
ideologies from which to choose
B. Critics of the Restoration were varied
1. Reactionaries wanted to reverse
secularization and democratization
a. Slavophiles in Russia wanted to cleanse
the realm of “Western” influence
2. Liberals pressed for legal and political
reforms encoded in the American and
182 ◆ Chapter 16 Alternative Visions of the Nineteenth Century
French Revolutions, but not economic
equality
a. John Stuart Mill embodied this thought
3. Radical visions
a. Radicals envisioned total
reconfiguration of the old regime’s state
system
b. Radicals were a diverse lot
i. Some demanded equality and an
end to personal property
c. Nationalists demanded new nation-
states in Poland, Serbia, Greece, Italy,
and Germany in place of the Ottoman,
Habsburg, and Russian empires
i. Greece secured its independence
from the Ottoman Empire in the
1820s
d. Socialists and Communists demanded
political and economic reform
i. They worried about the economic
gap between workers and the new
wealthy middle class
e. Fourier and utopian societies
i. Utopian Socialism was the
most visionary of all alternative
movements
ii. Charles Fourier was the most
influential of Europe’s prophet-
visionaries
a. His “system” planned for
reorganizing society into
phalanxes of about 1,500
people
b. All members of the phalanx
would work
iii. Fourier’s writing gained popularity
in the 1830s
a. Women worked toward reform
based on Fourier’s system
b. Writings influenced Russians
such as Fyodor Dostoevsky,
Italians like Giuseppe Mazzini,
the Spanish republican Joaquin
Abreu, and the German Karl
Marx
f. Marxism
i. Karl Marx became the most
important Restoration-era radical
ii. Collaborating with Friedrich
Engels, he developed a materialist
theory of human history
iii. They believed the current clash
between wage workers and
capitalists would usher in a brave
new world of true liberty, equality,
and fraternity
a. Th is new world would not have
private property
b. The state would wither away
because there would be no need
for human exploitation
4. The revolutions of 1848 resulted in
uprisings in France, Austria, Italy, and
Czechoslovakia, but they failed to achieve
even limited goals, much less radical ones;
still, radical visions continued to shape
views of alternatives
a. Marx published The Communist
Manifesto in 1848, calling on the
workers of all nations to unite and
overthrow capitalism
V. Insurgencies against Colonizing and Centralizing
States
A. In the nineteenth century, Native Americans
and Indians developed alternative visions to
their colonial status that drew upon traditional,
cultural, and political resources, yet envisioned
something new
B. Alternative to the expanding United States:
Native American prophets
1. Tenskwatawa emerged as a prophet, part of a
long tradition in Native American cultures
a. Indian seers had periodically emerged
to encourage native peoples to purge
colonial influences and invigorate native
traditions
i. Popé encouraged the Pueblo
villages in New Mexico to rise up
against colonial Spain
ii. During the 1750s, Neolin led
rebels against the British in the
Ohio Valley
2. In the early 1800s, the Indians of the Ohio
River Valley envisioned a world from
which the Euro-American invaders had
disappeared
a. The Shawnee had lost most of their
holdings to the United States
b. Many cooperated with American
officials and Christian missionaries in
order to survive
 Chapter 16 Alternative Visions of the Nineteenth Century ◆ 183
i. They took up farming and private
property
ii. They embraced Christianity
3. Tenskwatawa, a distraught Shawnee, had
much in common with Hong Xiuquan, the
Taiping leader
a. Having lived an uninspiring life thus
far, he claimed to have fallen into a
trance and envisioned a heaven where
the Shawnee would return to traditional
ways
b. He exhorted Indians to return to
traditional ways and to reduce their
dependency on Euro-Americans
i. He urged them to abandon alcohol,
guns, and Christianity
c. He claimed that if the Indians heeded
his message, they could restore their
way of life and Euro-Americans would
disappear
d. By 1805, he had converted numerous
people from various tribes
4. His brother Tecumseh, a noted warrior,
spread Tenskwatawa’s vision around
the Great Lakes and organized armed
resistance to the United States
5. From 1811 to 1813, Tecumseh and
his forces fought valiantly but were
ultimately defeated by the United States
army
6. During the 1820s and 1830s, most Indians
in the eastern half of the United States
were relocated, often by force, west of the
Mississippi
a. Cherokee Trail of Tears
C. Alternative to the central state: The Caste War
of the Yucatán
1. The most successful of all rebellions in
modern history or the New World was
the Mayan revolt against the Mexican
government in the nineteenth century
2. The Mayan of the Yucatan had enjoyed
relative autonomy for centuries
a. They maintained their villages, ruled by
elders, with collective ownership of the
land
3. In the nineteenth century, regional elites
began growing sugar and used debt
peonage to coerce labor out of Mayans
a. During the Mexican-American War of
1846–1848, government officials sought
revenue and soldiers from Mayan
villages
4. In 1847, the Mayans began a revolt
against local elites and the Mexican
government that would last for half a
century
a. The confl ict was known as the “Caste
War” because Mayans wanted to end
their status as a special caste that paid
separate taxes and did not enjoy the
same rights as whites
b. Mayan leaders essentially upheld a
republican model based on full political
equality
5. The rebellion was successful early on
but Mexican forces used brutality to
repress it
6. The war transformed the Mayan
rebels
a. Some forged a mixed syncretic religion
that blended Mayan and Christian
traditions and demanded complete
cultural autonomy, not just political
equality
7. By the late nineteenth century, the
rebellion still thrived in rural areas, but
isolation and hunger had depleted the
rebels’ numbers
8. Henequen cultivation entered the area at
this time
a. The Mexican government threw its full
weight behind the large landholders’
efforts to force the Mayans to work the
plantations
9. Hunger and government arms crushed the
rebellion by 1900
D. The Rebellion of 1857 in India
1. By 1857, the East India Company’s rule in
India was a century old and had become
increasingly autocratic
a. In the 1840s, it increasingly annexed
more land and stripped native
aristocrats of their privileges
b. It began collecting taxes directly from
the peasants, bypassing traditional tax
collectors
c. It transferred judicial authority away
from indigenous elites
d. In 1856, the Company, violating treaty
obligations, attempted to annex the
province of Awadh
184 ◆ Chapter 16 Alternative Visions of the Nineteenth Century
2. Furthermore, the Company began a
program of building railroads, telegraph
lines, and a postal network to unify its
domains
a. The goal was to make India a colonial-
capitalist economy
3. In 1857, Indians revolted
a. The revolt began within the Company
army as native recruits rebelled against
what they perceived as religious
insensitivity
i. “Grease cartridge” controversy
b. Soldiers reasserted the authority of the
Mughal emperor who still existed but
had no real power
c. The revolt spread quickly as peasants,
artisans, religious leaders, and the
landed gentry joined in
i. Though the dispossessed
aristocracy and pett y landholders
led the rebellion, many individual
leaders came from lower ranks
ii. The rebellion united Hindus and
Muslims
iii. Peasants often attacked anything
that smacked of Company rule or
any local people who benefited
from Company rule
d. The revolt was really a series of revolts
where local people attempted to sett le
local grievances; no national vision
existed
e. The revolt did not challenge traditional
hierarchies of caste and religion
4. By 1858, the British had brutally crushed
the rebellion
a. They eliminated the Mughal dynasty
through exile and execution
5. In August, Parliament assumed control
over India, ending Company rule and
transferring authority over India to the
British crown
6. Queen Victoria declared religious
toleration, improvements, and local
influence in her government
VI. Conclusion
A. When viewed on a global scale, all of these
rebellions signify a yearning on the part
of many different peoples for a world with
multiple centers and historical trajectories.
B. Even after defeat, their messages remained
alive and continued to shape their communities
despite the “victory” of the dominant powers.
The yearning for an alternative continued,
though it would take different forms in the next
century.
LECTURE IDEAS
History from the “Bottom Rung”
A good way to introduce the theme of alternative visions is
to develop a lecture on the merits of studying the “losers”
in history. Th is chapter focuses on rebellion; you can rein-
force the lessons here by giving a stronger voice to those
people who come “from the bottom rung.” If you assign
additional texts this is also a good point in the semester to
have students turn in written assignments on those texts.
Many narratives from this period are now being published
that give voice to those people who have formerly not been
heard. These narratives can strengthen the points in this
chapter and your lecture. You can now fi nd viable sources
of information on the Zulu Wars at:
www.kwazulu.co.uk/
“The Zulu Military Organization and the Challenge of
1879” at:
rapidtt p.com/milhist/vol044sb.html
Although originally published in 1959, The Washing of
Spears by Donald Morris (reissued in 1998) provides one
of the best contextual sources for the confl ict and a bal-
anced view of the opponents. Also look at resources on
the last king of the independent Zulu nation, Cetshwayo.
Other alternative voices could be the history of the
Ghost Dance and the massacre at Wounded Knee. You
can fi nd eyewitness reports of the massacre at:
www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/resources/archives/eight/
wklakota.htm.
Zorro: The Champion of Mexico’s Peasants
Use a brief fi lm clip from one of the many Zorro fi lms to
gain your students’ interest and as a way to lead them into
a lecture on the plight of peasants in nineteenth-century
Mexico/California. Although the character of Zorro
was fictional and a discussion of the movies’ inaccura-
cies is a good way to teach the history of the period, the
idea appears to have been taken from a conglomerate of
sources, likely including the equally fictional Scarlet Pim-
pernel and a nineteenth-century Mexican Robin Hood
named Joaquín Murrieta. The rise of banditry both along
the Mexican-American border prior to the Mexican-
American War and in the Yucatán Peninsula prior to the
Caste War was symptomatic of the indigenous peasants’
lack of agency. However, as has been shown with Robin
 Chapter 16 Alternative Visions of the Nineteenth Century ◆ 185
Hood, myths such as these often are found to hold pieces
of truth. Th is provides a golden moment to discuss the im-
pact of European contact, the rise of revolution, the value
of questioning historical sources, and the goals revolu-
tionaries sought to achieve. For more information on the
Mexican-American War, see:
www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/index_ flash.html
On Murrieta, see:
www.sptddog.com/sotp/jomu.html?artoid=4770&
webpage=0
www.cocohistory.com/essays-murrieta.html
On the Yucatan War, see The Caste War of Yucatan by
Nelson Reed (2001).
Henequen Cultivation and the Rise
of the Capitalist Industrialist
The rise of henequen cultivation on the Yucatán Peninsula
in the late nineteenth century was dictated by global forces.
A lecture on this topic demonstrates the clash between the
industrial capitalist order and alternative visions in this
particular context. One source of information for forming
this lecture is “The Tie That Bound” in Kenneth Pomeranz
and Steven Topik’s The World that Trade Created: Society,
Culture, and the World Economy, 1400–the Present (1999).
See also Don Dumond’s book (see Recommended Read-
ing). You could make ready comparisons to the dramatic
economic shifts in other regions as local sources of in-
come were depleted or altered. Th is was an issue with the
Zulu, and with Chinese peasants when controlled by the
Manchu.
Colonization
Parallel the lives of the Zulu leaders Shaka and Cetshwayo,
and the Sioux leaders Sitt ing Bull and Crazy Horse. You
can contextualize the events surrounding their lives, in-
cluding the encroachment of colonial whites, attempts at
appeasement, and the fi nal rally behind more radical lead-
ership. For more details on the lives of these leaders and
their people, see Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart at Wounded
Knee: An Indian History of the American West (1970); and
www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/program/
See also Donald R. Morris’s The Washing of the Spears:
A History of the Rise of the Zulu Nation Under Shaka and Its
Fall in the Zulu War of 1879 (1998); and
www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/
storyofafrica/index_section11.shtml
Syed Ahmed Khan’s The Causes of the Indian Revolt,
(Oxford in Asia Historical Reprints) (2001), written by
a Muslim leader during the 1857 Indian Rebellion, pro-
vides rich material for a lecture on Indian perceptions of
the East India Company rule before the revolt. It also ex-
plores the personalities of many central figures.
CLASS ACTIVITIES
World Tension
Have students read Karl Marx and Friedrich Engel’s Com-
munist Manifesto in preparation for a class discussion. You
can fi nd the manifesto on many sites, including:
www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/classics/manifesto.
html
www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/treatise/communist_
manifesto/mancont.htm
www.gutenberg.org/etext/61
Th is document can help you show the level of anxi-
ety around the world due to population shifts, economic
changes, and global industrialization. The Manifesto of-
fers but one example of the alternatives people sought
amid so much uncertainty. Th rough a class discussion
in which students focus on their understanding of the
Manifesto and you link their points to similar events and
issues of the time, they should begin to make these con-
nections. The following are some of the questions you will
want your students to consider as they read this and to
discuss further in class. What is a manifesto? What kinds
of groups tended to write manifestos? Th is is not the only
important manifesto written during this time or during
the twentieth century. Are you aware of other manifestos?
What were their goals? Why is it still relevant to consider
this document since communism has essentially col-
lapsed? Did Marx and Engel’s critiques of capitalism have
validity in their time? Do they now? Does their idea, in its
theoretical form, fit the chapter’s examples of nineteenth-
century leaders’ attempts at creating utopias? Were Marx
and Engels trying to create a utopia? Marx believed that
revolution was a necessary stage between capitalism and
communism. Th is doesn’t mean that he enjoyed violence.
But he saw revolution as the only way to make this transi-
tion. Why? What links might there be between industrial-
ization and communism?
Rebels Make Music in the Mexican-American War
Using the Web sites:
www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/index_ flash.html
www.mudcat.org/thread.cfm?threadid=62788(Maid
of Monterrey)
186 ◆ Chapter 16 Alternative Visions of the Nineteenth Century
break students into groups and provide each group with
lyrics from one of the rebel songs. Instruct them to read
the lyrics from “The Maid of Monterrey” and “The Death
of Ringgold.” You can provide the Mexican national an-
them, which was written in 1854, shortly after the war:
david.national-anthems.net/mx.htm
Other songs are available on line as well. In the video
clip library at the site you can play one or two songs for
them. Have each group unpack the songs for the relevant
symbols. How did they build support for the war and/or
nationalism? How did they create a sense of rightness for
the war? Once the students have created lists of symbols,
bring them back together to discuss which symbols were
the same and which were different. Why? For example, re-
ligious symbols are invoked in many of the Mexican songs
because of the majority Catholic population. That was not
possible in the United States; other commonalities had to
be discovered. For more information on sheet music, how
to interpret it, and its value in history, in particular the
Mexican-American War, see:
www.ischool.berkeley.edu/~mkduggan/neh.html
Orientalism
Discuss the development of the term orientalism dur-
ing this period. Provide students with a range of images
that are considered classic to the age of colonialism and
represent European ideas of the “oriental.” These can
range from early realist paintings by Jéan-Leon Gerome
and Jean-August-Dominique Ingres to later paintings
by James Abbott McNeill Whistler and Paul Gauguin.
Ask students to discuss what they see in these paintings.
What might be considered “oriental,” according to the
academic defi nition? What do they see in the images that
might be paradoxical? What influences are present that
we fi nd in material culture today? Why did Europeans
need to develop a new identity within which to homoge-
nize varieties of people groups? What historical function
did it serve?
RECOMMENDED FILMS
■ From Harmony to Revolution: The Birth and Growth of
Socialism (57 min.). Focusing on the American utopian
socialist movement, this fi lm looks at how the socialist
principles became militaristic in Russia but political in
the United States. First it follows the rise of Lenin and the
USSR, then expands on Marx’s analysis of revolution by
reviewing the actions of Eugene Debs and Samuel Gomp-
ers as well as others active in American socialism. In par-
ticular, the fi lm discusses the New Harmony experiment
started by Robert Owen.
■ Karl Marx (2006, 22 min.). This film offers a biographi-
cal and contextual timeline of Karl Marx, one of the
world’s most important intellectual thinkers. Beginning
with his childhood, it proceeds through his youth, his life
in Paris and Brussels, and his relationship with Engels.
The fi lm includes spoken excerpts from many of his writ-
ings and discusses the strengths and weaknesses of his
philosophy. By contextualizing his life it shows Marx’s
compassion for the global working class, which inspired
his theories.
■ Mangal Pandey: The Rising (2005, 130 min.). This film
is based on the life of Mangal Pandey, the Brahmin East
India Company soldier who led the attack on his British
superiors, sparking the Indian Mutiny of 1857. Th is epic
presents the Indian viewpoint but leaves no group un-
scathed, criticizing British imperialists as well as Gandhi
for his conciliatory stance. The movie provides another
opportunity to discuss alternative voices as well as how
the British used Hindu symbolism and cultural mores to
encourage colonial conformity among the Indians. The
flaws in the fi lm should be discussed, among them the
mythologizing of Pandey. The fi lm shows the British kill-
ing civilians—no evidence exists of this. The fi lm shows
the British practicing slavery—this was not policy, and
some of the retribution that the British take in the fi lm is
exaggerated. However, on the whole, the fi lm provides a
good counterweight to the more often heard historical ac-
counts of the rebellion.
■ Shaka Zulu (1986). You can show any of three
feature-length fi lms on the Anglo-Zulu Wars: Shaka Zulu,
Zulu Dawn (1979), and Zulu (1964). All are well done and
provide better understandings of the political and eco-
nomic revolutions of the time. However, the miniseries
Shaka Zulu is the best at presenting the African view-
point, especially in regard to European colonialism. Built
around the life of the king of the Zulu, Shaka, the ten-
episode series allows for some contextualization. You can
show Zulu life, landscape, and customs as well as political
and economic changes.
■ The Secrets of the Dead: “The Day of the Zulu” (2002).
Th is series uses a scientific approach (a la CSI) to reevalu-
ate historical events. In “The Day of the Zulu” the scien-
tists evaluate physical evidence on both sides of the Batt le
of Isandlwana, where the British were roundly defeated
by the Zulu of South Africa. Taking into account a solar
eclipse on that day, batt le tactics, the Zulu’s use of hallu-
cinogenic drugs before batt le, and one strategic mistake
 Chapter 16 Alternative Visions of the Nineteenth Century ◆ 187
on the British side, the fi lm explains the outcome of this
batt le. An accompanying Web site provides a step-by-step
plan of the batt le as well as teacher resources.
■ U.S.–Mexican War 1845–1848 (1998, 240 min., four
parts). Although it is impossible to show all four of these,
there are many points in the four videos at which you
can introduce your students to alternative views of the
war that have historically been poorly represented. Not
only does the series explore the relationship between the
United States and Mexico, it also looks at the repercus-
sions that the land transfer had on the two countries after
the war. Told from multiple points of view and featuring
both Mexican and American historians, the series makes
a genuine attempt at fairly balancing the perspectives of
this event. An excellent Web site is available to support
this series at:
www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/index_ flash.html.
RECOMMENDED READING
Dee Brown, 1970. Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An
Indian History of the American West.
Gregory Evans Dowd, 1992. A Spirited Resistance: The
North American Indian Struggle for Unity, 1745–1815.
Don E. Dumond, 1997. The Machete and the Cross:
Campesino Rebellion in Yucatan.
Spencer Klaw, 1994. Without Sin: The Life and Death of
the Oneida Community.
Ian Knight, 2006. Brave Men’s Blood: The Epic of the Zulu
War 1879.
Stewart Lone, ed., 2007. Daily Lives of Civilians in
Wartime Asia: From the Taiping Rebellion to the
Vietnam War.
Donald R. Morris, 1998. The Washing of the Spears: A
History of the Rise of the Zulu Nation Under Shaka
and Its Fall in the Zulu War of 1879.
Nelson Reed, 2001. The Caste War of Yucatan, rev. ed.
Jonathan D. Spence, 1996. God’s Chinese Son: The Taiping
Heavenly Kingdom of Hong Xiuquan.
Ibraheem Sulaiman, 1986. Revolution in History: The
Jihad of Usman Dan Fodio.
PJO Taylor, ed., 1997. The Oxford India Companion to the
“Indian Mutiny” of 1857.
Alternative Voices: Student Biography
Assignment Suggestions
Pagan Kennedy, 2002. Black Livingstone: A True Tale of
Adventure in the Nineteenth- Century Congo.
Robin Law and Paul E. Lovejoy, eds., 2006. The
Biography of Mahommah Gardo Baquaqua: His
Passage from Slavery to Freedom in Afr ica and
America.
Margaret McCord, 1998. The Calling of Katie Makanya: A
Memoir of South Afr ica.
Ida Pruitt, 1945. A Daughter of Han: The Autobiography of
a Chinese Working Woman.
WEB SITES
An American Hero: Tecumseh
Biography of the Shawnee chief Tecumseh and archives
www.jmu.edu/madison/center/main_ pages/
madison_archives/era/native/tecumseh/tecumseh.
htm
BBC: The Story of Afr ica: Africa and Europe (1800–1914)
General overview
www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/
storyofafrica/index_section11.shtml
The Caste War Museum
Images and historical data on museum collection
www.sonicmattc.co.uk/matt inmexico/Museum.
htm
The Epic of Race: The Indian Mutiny, 1857
Historical overview
www.victorianweb.org/history/empire/epic.html
The Internet Modern Sourcebook: The Long Nineteenth
Century
Primary-source materials
www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook3.html
Tales of Old China
Broad contextual overview of East-West contact in
nineteenth century
www.talesofoldchina.com/introduction/
introduction.php
Time and Again: The Ghost Dance
Contains archival, historical, and audio materials
msnbc.com/onair/msnbc/TimeandAgain/archive/
wknee/ghost.asp?cp1=1
New Perspectives on the West
Offers an overview of Mexican-American war as well as
resource materials
www.pbs.org/weta/thewest/program/
The U.S.–Mexican War
Offers an overview of war as well as resource materials
www.pbs.org/kera/usmexicanwar/index_ flash.html
188 ◆ Chapter 16 Alternative Visions of the Nineteenth Century

China: The Taiping Rebellion The History Guide: Utopian Socialists: Charles Fourier,
www.wsu.edu/~dee/CHING/TAIPING.HTM Robert Owen, Saint-Simon
Good overview of the utopian movement in Europe
The Mexican-American War and the Media, 1845–1848 www.historyguide.org/intellect/lecture21a.html
Provides sources for transcriptions of newspaper articles,
indexes, images, bibliographies, timelines, and official
documents
www.history.vt.edu/MxAmWar/INDEX.HTM
CH A PTER 17
Nations and Empires,
1850–1914
▶ Nation Building and Expansion
▶ Expansion and Nation Building in the Americas
The United States
Canada
Latin America
▶ Consolidation of Nation-States in Europe
Unification in Germany and in Italy
Contradictions of the Nation in Europe
▶ Industry, Science, and Technology
Japan Became an Industrial Power after 1880
New Materials, Technologies, and Business
Practices
LECTURE OUTLINE
Between 1850 and 1914, nation-state building and impe-
rial expansion changed the map of the world. In Europe,
the Americas, and Japan, exponents of the nation-state
claimed that the world should be divided up into groups
who shared a common past, culture, territory, and tradi-
tions. Many political leaders adopted this strategy, leading
to state-led efforts to expand their territorial reach, pro-
mote economic development, and encourage the growth
of a common national identity among those identified as
members. Th rough this process, some existing countries
such as Japan and the United States became new actors on
the international stage. In Europe, the new countries of
Germany and Italy appeared to upset the status quo. The
growth of nationalism threatened multinational empires
such as Austria, Russia, and the Ottoman realm. Further-
more, nationalism also led to an explosion of imperialism
as many nations concluded that territorial aggrandize-
ment was essential to their development. The overseas
expansion of European powers, the United States, Latin
America, and Japan, along with the growth of new tech-
nologies and methods in communication and transporta-
tion, further knitted the world’s regional economies into a
Integration of the World Economy
▶ Imperialism
Between 1860 and 1900, European Nations, as
Well as Russia, the United States, and Japan,
Vastly Expanded their Territorial Control in
Southeast Asia, Africa, Central Asia, and the
Caribbean
Imperialism and Culture
▶ Japan, Russia, and China
Japanese Transformation and Expansion
Russian Transformation and Expansion
China under Pressure
larger superstructure. They also facilitated the largest re-
shuffl ing of people and resources the world had ever seen.
Territorial and economic expansion, however, challenged
the very premise of nation-state building. Were nation
and empire compatible?
I. Nation Building and Expansion
A. Ideology of nation-state building was
widespread
B. Many times the state created the nation
through shared ideals, laws, and customs
C. Nation-states sought to expand globally
1. Scramble for colonies brought prestige to
nation-states
D. Large migrations of peoples to new lands
E. Colonial empires moved labor, capital, and
commodities to new territories
II. Expansion and Nation Building in the Americas
A. Leaders in the Americas shared similar goals in
the nineteenth century
1. They strove to create stable political
communities
a. They desired public participation and
legitimacy
189
190 ◆ Chapter 17 Nations and Empires, 1850–1914
b. They created uniform laws and courts
c. They issued standard currencies
2. They wanted to expand their territory
a. They wanted to incorporate the
periphery into the national fabric
b. Th is challenged the traditional ways of
life of indigenous peoples
3. Methods and processes differed from
country to country
B. The United States
1. Thomas Jefferson and others promoted
territorial expansion as necessary for the
independence and economic well-being of
white citizens
a. In 1803, the United States concluded
the Louisiana Purchase
b. In the 1840s, it divided Oregon with
Great Britain
c. During 1846–1848, it conquered half of
Mexico
d. Gold rush in California led to mass
migration to the state in the 1850s
2. Territorial expansion eventually caused the
Civil War as Americans disagreed over the
role of slavery in the country’s future
a. After the war, although former slaves were
nominally incorporated into the citizenry,
they remained second-class citizens
3. The defeat of the South strengthened the
national government, which promoted
economic development
a. By 1900, the U.S. had 200,000 miles of
railroad track
b. Mechanization of agriculture led to
huge gains in production of wheat
c. The United States became the leading
manufacturer in the world
4. The transformed economy generated
renewed social confl ict
a. The new economy was prone to
overproduction and depression
b. Class confl ict heightened
i. One percent of all Americans
controlled 90 percent of its wealth
ii. Radical labor leaders emerged
iii. Radical agrarians led protests
against the new order
c. The government took the land of the
Great Plains Indians
5. With nowhere left to expand in North
America, many Americans looked to
overseas expansion to cure overproduction
and class unrest
C. Canada
1. Canada separated peacefully from Britain
in 1867
a. The new nation was sharply divided
between English- and French-speaking
citizens
2. The new government used territorial
expansion to promote unity and
nationalism
a. The Canadian government used state
resources to promote sett lement in the
West
b. It also used diplomacy and treaties
to reduce confl ict with Great Plains
Indians
3. Canada emerged with a stronger state, but
a weaker sense of nation
D. Latin America
1. By the middle of the century, Latin
American countries had become
liberal capitalist societies who sought
territorial expansion but with major
differences
a. Unlike in North America, most of the
good land went to large estate holders
who produced export crops such as
sugar or coffee, or raised catt le
b. Latin American elites held a monopoly
of power, unlike in the United States
and Canada where there was broader
participation among whites
i. Latin American states also
excluded Indians and blacks
2. Landed elites maintained control of the
Brazilian government and preserved their
property rights, even while abolishing
slavery; this development shaped territorial
expansion
a. Brazilian state was deliberately
exclusionary and placed restrictions on
suff rage
b. The state allocated huge concessions to
capitalists to extract rubber latex from
the Amazon River basin
i. Merchants and landowners made
huge fortunes
ii. Workers, mainly Indians, also
benefited as long as prices
remained high

iii. The enterprise went bust by the
turn of the century because of
international competition
III. Consolidation of Nation-States in Europe
A. During the second half of the century, liberals
and conservatives were in alliance and
nationalism assumed a more conservative
character
1. Nationalism became a way of muting social
confl ict and mobilizing the state
2. Many conservatives reconciled themselves
to liberal political agendas. Liberals sided
with conservatives in opposing radical
economic reform
a. Louis Napoleon embodied this alliance
in France
i. He used universal male suff rage
(particularly an alliance of
peasants and the bourgeoisie
against radicals) to become
another emperor and strengthen
the state at home and abroad
3. Unification in Germany and Italy
a. Prussian conservative prime minister,
Otto von Bismarck, and Piedmont
conservative prime minister, Camillo
di Cavour, exploited nationalist
sentiment to create the modern
nation-states of Germany and Italy,
respectively
i. Both used war to unite the
regions
ii. Both used nationalism to
strengthen the state and dampen
radicalism
iii. Both were strong powers able to
compete with Britain and France
a. Unification brought economic
growth
iv. Neither had a broad franchise
a. Germany, however, instituted
Europe’s strongest welfare state
to blunt radicalism
b. Both were divided among
regional and class lines
4. Contradiction of the nation in Europe
a. Nationalism weakened the Austrian
Empire
i. In 1867 the ruling Habsburgs
agreed to home rule for Hungary
Chapter 17 Nations and Empires, 1850–1914 ◆ 191
and the realm became known as
the Austro-Hungarian Empire
a. Other ethnic groups
soon clamored for similar
recognition
ii. The Irish pressed for home rule
within the British Empire after the
great potato famine of the 1840s
IV. Industry, Science, and Technology
A. The second industrial revolution swept through
the industrial sector of the world economy after
1850
B. Japan became an industrial power after
1880
C. The United States and Germany overtook
Britain in terms of world share of industrial
output
D. New materials, technologies, and business
practices
1. Steel production soared
2. Chemicals, oil, and pharmaceuticals
became major industries
3. Mass transportation vehicles such as
automobiles and trolleys emerged
4. Electricity, a cheap source of energy,
became widely used
E. Science and industry became fi rmly wedded
1. German industrialists pioneered research
laboratories staffed by university-trained
chemists and physicists
2. The United States soon followed
F. Giant integrated fi rms emerged
1. In Europe and the United States, limited-
liability joint-stock companies became
major providers of funds for business
activity
a. Shareholders were no longer liable for
fi rm’s debts
b. U.S. Steel, Standard Oil, Imperial
Chemical Industries, and Krupp
were a few examples of these huge
fi rms
G. Integration of the world economy
1. Europe and the United States increased
exports
2. Their need to control the flow of tropical
resources grew
a. Industries now needed access to rubber,
copper, oil, and bauxite, more often
found in tropical climates
192 ◆ Chapter 17 Nations and Empires, 1850–1914
3. They possessed larger pools of capital for
overseas investment
a. Britain remained the world’s leading
investor, sending one-tenth of its annual
income overseas
H. The enlarged world economy needed labor in
certain regions to raise crops, work in mines, or
staff factories
1. Indian workers moved to the Caribbean,
Mauritius, Fiji, and South Africa
2. Chinese laborers moved to California and
Cuba
3. Irish, Poles, Jews, Italians, and Greeks
flocked to North America and South
America
I. New technologies in warfare and
transportation increased European dominance
1. Steam-powered gunboats and breech-
loading rifles opened new territories for
exploitation
2. Railroads facilitated the movement of
peoples and goods to coastal ports
3. Steamships allowed for more efficient
ocean travel
a. The Suez Canal decreased the amount
of time needed to travel from the
Atlantic to the Indian Ocean
4. Telegraph cables allowed for instant
communication
J. Scientific and technological innovation
encouraged other innovations
1. Charles Darwin developed his theory of
evolution
K. European scientists, laymen, clergy, and
anthropologists began debating the sources
of what they perceived to be European
superiority
1. Social Darwinism emerged to justify white
supremacy
V. Imperialism
A. Between 1860 and 1900, European nations, as
well as Russia, the United States, and Japan,
vastly expanded their territorial control in
Southeast Asia, Africa, Central Asia, and the
Caribbean
1. India and the imperial model
a. Britain’s experience in India served as a
role model
b. After the Rebellion of 1857, the British
government sought to remake the
colony
i. An appointed British viceroy,
responsible to the British cabinet,
ruled the colony
ii. The viceroy oversaw the
development of a modern
transportation and communication
system
a. By 1910, India had the fourth
largest railroad network in the
world
b. Engineers built dams and
telegraph lines
iii. India became a consumer of
British manufactured goods and
a supplier of raw materials such
as cotton, jute, tea, wheat, and oil
seeds
a. Peasants did most of the
production but rarely saw the
full returns of their labor
iv. Indian trade helped to balance
Britain’s trade deficit with the rest
of the world
v. The “Raj” helped foster a sense of
Indian national identity as well
2. Dutch colonial rule in Indonesia
a. Holland ended Dutch East India
Company rule in the 1830s, and the
Dutch government assumed direct
control
b. The new administration forced
everyone to raise coffee on one-third of
their land
i. Famine spread through the colony
over the next two decades
c. In the 1860s, the Dutch began an
“Ethical Policy”
i. Dutch sett lement was encouraged
ii. More private enterprise was
allowed
d. The Dutch spent time and effort putt ing
down rebellions throughout the rest of
the century
e. Indonesian production of sugar,
tobacco, rice, tin, oil, and rubber,
however, made huge profits for the
Dutch
3. Colonizing Africa
a. Africa bore the brunt of European
imperialism
i. Only Ethiopia and Liberia avoided
conquest
 Chapter 17 Nations and Empires, 1850–1914 ◆ 193
b. The French and British, with toeholds
in North and South Africa, respectively,
moved into the interior after 1850
c. Other European countries soon
duplicated these efforts
i. European powers, the United
States, and the Ottoman Empire
met in Berlin in 1884–1885
to make sure this “scramble”
happened in an orderly fashion
ii. European partition of Africa
divided ethnic, tribal, religious,
and linguistic groups
d. Europeans were motivated out of
desires for investment and trade
i. Stanley and Livingstone’s
explorations excited many
about the continent’s economic
potential
e. Europeans also saw colonies as a sign of
national greatness
i. Individuals, such as Karl Peters
of Germany and Cecil Rhodes of
Britain, often promoted this vision
and their own personal fortunes in
Africa
ii. King Leopold II, chafi ng at being
a monarch of tiny Belgium, built a
personal empire in the Congo
a. Later the Belgian government
took control after the human
rights abuses under his regime
became well known
f. Others viewed imperialism in Africa as
a chance to spread Christianity
g. Africans resisted this encroachment on
their lives, but resistance was largely
futile
i. Africans were internally divided
ii. European technology was superior
to African weapons
iii. Only Menelik, ruler of Ethiopia,
repulsed the Europeans
a. He modernized his army and
played Europeans off each other
iv. Other Africans did hold out for a
long time
a. Samori Touré in West Africa
used guerilla tactics against the
French and was not defeated
until 1900
h. Colonial administrations
i. Some European administrations,
such as Leopold’s Congo, relied on
brute force
ii. Others relied on military
adventurers, sett lers, and
avaricious entrepreneurs
a. Some individuals established
near-fiefdoms that they
exploited for personal gain
iii. All Europeans relied on African
armies to do their bidding
a. The Force Publique in the
Congo
iv. Over time, Europeans created
stable, rationalized bureaucracies
a. Th is system laid the foundations
for today’s nation-states in
Africa
b. The goal of these
administrations were to
i. Have the colony pay for its
administration
ii. Preserve domestic peace
iii. Promote economic growth
that would generate income
for Africans and European
investors
c. New exports such as cocoa,
coffee, palm oil, palm kernels,
tea, sisal, and cotton became
major exports
i. Most of this wealth went to
Europeans
v. New trade patterns disrupted
traditional lives
a. Europeans lured thousands of
workers to mines in Katanga
and South Africa
i. Most of these workers
ended up indebted to these
companies
b. Women had to take care of
subsistence and cash crops at
home
c. Working conditions and pay in
the mines were deplorable
vi. Overall, European administrations
were quite fragile
4. The American empire
a. In the 1890s, the United States began
to emulate the European model
of colonization in Africa and Asia,
194 ◆ Chapter 17 Nations and Empires, 1850–1914
building on the Manifest Destiny
rhetoric of the 1840s
b. American expansion took place during
and after the Spanish-American War
i. Although it had fought for the
independence of Cuba, America
acquired Puerto Rico, Guam, and
the Philippines, and limited Cuba’s
independence
a. Both Cubans and Filipinos
revolted
ii. These colonies allowed the United
States to intervene in the affairs of
many countries in Central America
and the Caribbean to protect
American property and investment
B. Imperialism and culture
1. Overseas expansion reinforced ideas of
cultural and racial superiority at home
a. Social Darwinism gave Europeans the
belief that it was their duty to rule
i. Europeans often viewed their role
as one of “civilizing” less developed
societies
a. Many organizations emerged to
promote this view
2. Celebrations of imperialism appeared in
popular culture
a. Portable cameras appeared, allowing
imperial images in postcards and
advertising
b. Motherhood was celebrated as
necessary to the imperial effort
c. The image of the adventurous boyhood
also appeared
i. Juvenile literature was increasingly
organized around sex roles
a. Boys’ literature focused on
adventure in exotic locals, e.g.,
Rudyard Kipling’s novels
b. Girls’ literature stressed
domestic service and nurturing
VI. Japan, Russia, and China
A. Expansion was not just a Western phenomenon
B. Japanese transformation and expansion
1. With the Meiji Restoration in the late
nineteenth century, Japan became a
modern nation-state
a. In 1868, elites toppled the Tokugawa
Shogunate
i. The new government developed a
new model of political community
that stressed unity and superiority
ii. The Meiji Constitution was
modeled on that of Germany
a. One percent of the population
voted for representatives to the
“Diet”
2. The Meiji Restoration led to a remarkable
economic transformation
a. Land reform allowed peasants to
become small landholders
i. Peasants improved their
productivity
b. The government also created a uniform
currency, constructed a postal system,
laid telegraph lines, formed foreign
trade associations, launched savings and
export campaigns, built railroads, and
hired foreign consultants
c. Eventually, the government sold
many of these valuable enterprises to
individuals
i. Th is initiative helped create
powerful family holding
companies known as zaibatsu
3. Expansion offered more markets for this
modernizing economy and a chance to
assert the country’s “greatness”
a. In 1872, the Japanese took over the
Ryūkyūs kingdom
b. In 1876, they recognized Korea as an
independent state and angered China,
which considered Korea a “sphere of
influence”
c. In 1894–1895, they defeated the
Chinese in the Sino-Japanese War
i. China ceded Taiwan to Japan
d. In 1910, Japan annexed Korea
4. Like Europeans, the Japanese viewed
colonial peoples as inferior
5. They also expected colonies to serve the
economic interests of Japan
a. In particular, they developed rice
production for export to Japan
b. Taiwan also exported sugar to the rest
of Asia, earning foreign currency for
Japan
C. Russian transformation and expansion
1. Russia embarked on expansion in the late
nineteenth century, largely as a defensive

reaction to expansion of countries around
its territory
2. At fi rst this expansion did not go well
a. Britain and France prevented Russian
expansion into southeastern Europe in
the Crimean War of 1853–1856
b. The war spurred Russian authorities on
a state-led modernization course
i. Autocratic rule remained
a. The monarchy stifled dissent
ii. Serfdom was abolished
a. Landholders kept the best
land and serfs had to pay large
redemption taxes for the poor
land they received
iii. The government also reformed the
education and legal systems
iv. The government encouraged
railroad construction, industrial
production, and mining
3. With modernization came expansion
a. In the 1860s, Russia conquered
Turkestan
i. Russians soon migrated into the
Central Asia province
ii. Russia soon conquered much of
the Caucasus Mountains region
in order to prevent it from falling
into the hands of Ottomans or
Persians
iii. Russia acquired land in Manchuria
from China in the 1860s
a. To invest in the land acquired, it
sold Alaska to the U.S.
b. In the 1890s, the Trans-Siberian
railroad linked the region to the
west
4. By 1900, Russia had acquired a multiethnic
empire of which Russians barely accounted
for half the population
a. Conquered regions were made full part
of the realm
i. Appointed governors ruled them
ii. In some areas, the government
promoted “Russification” or use
of the Russian language and
promotion of Russian culture
iii. In others, the Russians respected
cultural autonomy and tried to
incorporate local elites into their
regime
Chapter 17 Nations and Empires, 1850–1914 ◆ 195
5. While expansion was supposed to bring
security to the borders, it created even
more insecurity
a. The British, Ottomans, Persians,
and Japanese all felt that Russian
expansionism threatened their holdings
in Asia and Europe
b. Defending the borders was a constant
strain on the Russian government
c. Economic modernization also created
instability
D. China under pressure
1. The Chinese were slower than the Russians
and the Japanese to emulate European
models of industrialism and imperialism
a. Historically they were more worried
about internal revolts and threats from
their northern border
2. The Self-Strengthening Movement
a. Starting in the 1860s, reformist
bureaucrats sought to adopt Western
learning and technological skills
i. They built arsenals, shipyards, coal
mines, and steamships
ii. They sent 120 students abroad
b. Conservatives were skeptical about
these efforts
i. They argued that industrialism
would lead to unemployment
ii. They believed railroads would
aff ront geometric sensibilities and
disturb harmony between humans
and nature
a. The fi rst short railroad was torn
up in 1877 shortly after it was
built
3. Internal developments
a. Population pressures led to migrations
to the frontier areas of Manchuria,
Southeast Asia, and Central Asia
b. In coastal cities, Chinese-language
newspapers appeared
4. Hundred Days’ Reform
a. Defeat in the Sino-Japanese War
(1894–1895) led to an attempt at
comprehensive reform on the part of the
Qing dynasty
b. Scholars Kang Youwei and Liang
Qichao wanted China to emulate Japan
and develop railroads, modern banking,
etc.
196 ◆ Chapter 17 Nations and Empires, 1850–1914
c. In September 1898, the Guangxu
emperor agreed
d. The efforts aroused conservative
opposition, which rallied around the
Empress Dowager Cixi
e. The Guangxu emperor was put under
house arrest and the reforms ended
VIII. Conclusion
A. Between 1850 and 1914, the majority of the
world’s population lived in empires, not nation-
states
1. Still, nationalism spread during this time
2. Strengthening state power went hand-in-
hand with reordering the polity around
“the nation”
B. In the second half of the century, nation-
building had allowed some states to extend
their power beyond national borders
1. Colonization was integral to nation-
building in many societies
a. Brazil, Japan, and the United States all
integrated important provinces
b. Others did not attempt to
integrate their colonies into the nation,
such as Britain with India and Holland
with Indonesia
i. Ideologies of race and empire
became woven into the fabric of
imperialism
2. By 1900, three new world powers—the
United States, Germany, and Japan—had
emerged
a. Russia was also powerful, but it rested
on a weak foundation
C. The emergence of nation-states and colonies
allowed an effective framework for integrating
the global economy
1. Industrialism spread
2. Labor, capital, and commodities moved
across the world at higher rates than before
3. Much of this integration occurred between
nation-states and their empires, not among
the various empires
D. Ironically, imperialism spread the idea of
nationalism to colonial subjects
1. Colonial subjects often used the rhetoric of
nationalism to assert their autonomy
a. Filipinos, for example, used Jefferson’s
Declaration of Independence to oppose
American invaders
LECTURE IDEAS
Railroads and the Development of an Empire
Railroads were a crucial aspect of nation-state develop-
ment and empire. Thus, a lecture comparing the con-
struction and impact of railroads in the United States and
Russia, where railroad construction helped to integrate
frontier territory into the national body, versus railroads
in India and other European colonies, where transporta-
tion systems were designed to facilitate economic integra-
tion into wider global networks, can be very illuminating.
For the United States see David Haward Bain, Empire Ex-
press: Building the 1st Transcontinental Railroad (1999); for
Russia see Hans Rogger, Russia in the Age of Moderniza-
tion and Revolution, 1881–1907 (1983); for India and other
colonies see Clarence B. Davis and Kenneth E. Wilburn
Jr, eds., Railway Imperialism (1991) (see Recommended
Reading).
Rubber Slaves
Adam Hochschild’s King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of Greed,
Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa (1998) provides the
material for a lecture on the intersection of imperialism,
the second industrial revolution, colonial administra-
tions, and early stirrings of anti-imperialism.
Victorian Childhood
Supporting nation and empire building requires more
than work on a political level. It demands the heart and
souls of a majority of the members of the nation. With this
realization, many of the imperial countries began to focus
part of their attention on improving the lives of their citi-
zens, not just male members of the state, but the previously
insignificant lower classes, females, and children. Great
Britain, the chief empire of the day, led the way in reforms
regarding child labor and education. Mothers were recog-
nized as the greatest influence in the lives of children. In
middle- and upper-class families in particular, mothers
began slowly to fi nd their voice. A lecture could show the
development of child-labor laws and changes in the lives
of children regarding physical punishment, education,
and their personal autonomy and rights. Excerpts from
any of the nineteenth-century tales of childhood could be
a good opening, the classic being Oliver Twist by Charles
Dickens. For more details on the lives of Victorian chil-
dren, see:
www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/womens_
work_01.shtml

www.angelfi re.com/ar3/townevictorian/
victoriannursery.html
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRchild.main.htm
Canada’s Independence
American students rarely learn of Canada’s history. Can-
ada gained its independence peacefully from Great Brit-
ain in 1867, when empires and would-be empires were
in a mad rush to acquire more territory. A lecture could
discuss this separation and why it occurred when it might
appear that Great Britain wanted more land. Explain the
motivations and the diplomatic machinations behind the
decision. Contrast the case of Canada with the more com-
mon form of acquiring independence: wresting it from
the colonial power. Was Canada’s weaker nationalism, as
mentioned in the text, a product of the lack of a revolu-
tion? Or was it a conscious choice made by the govern-
ment and the people? Numerous sources are available for
creating this lecture, including those listed at the end of
this chapter. The materials are readily available. Th is topic
is not often discussed, although it probably should be.
CLASS ACTIVITIES
Music and Nation-Building
A good strategy to introduce the topic of “nation and em-
pire” is to play some of the patriotic songs that became
popular in Britain during the late nineteenth and early
twentieth centuries. You can fi nd sound fi les for songs
such as “Rule Britannia,” and “God Save the Queen” at
the Modern History Sourcebook: British Imperial Anthems.
www.fordham.edu.halsall/mod/rulebritannia.html
Th is site also includes the texts of the songs. Or you can
use other resources. Ask students to identify the sources
of pride that gave rise to these songs. How do they sym-
bolize that quite often, nation-state-building and imperi-
alism went hand-in-hand? Why did conquest of overseas
territory signify national greatness?
Second Industrial Revolution and Architecture
To introduce a lecture that explores the second industrial
revolution, show students images of familiar landmarks
such as the Eiffel Tower, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue
of Liberty, or the Suez Canal. You can fi nd examples on
the Web at the following sites. For the Eiffel Tower, go to:
www.tour-eiffel.fr/
Chapter 17 Nations and Empires, 1850–1914 ◆ 197
For the Brooklyn Bridge, go to:
www.endex.com/gf/buildings/bbridge.html
For the Statue of Liberty, see:
www.endex.com./gf/buildings/liberty/liberty.html
Or you can rely on other sources. Have students discuss
the advancement in technology that allowed westerners
to create these structures. Then have them analyze how
these advancements affected westerners’ perceptions of
themselves.
Nations and Empires
Another group activity that explores the theme of “Na-
tions and Empires” is as follows. Divide the class into
groups of imperialist nations such as Great Britain, France,
Germany, and so on. Give each group primary sources of
speeches, essays, or other literature associated with ad-
vocates of territorial expansion. You can fi nd numerous
sources at the Internet Modern History Sourcebook’s sec-
tion on imperialism at:
www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook34.html.
Have each group develop a list of all the justifications
and reasons given for territorial expansion. As they pres-
ent these lists, record their responses on the chalkboard
or overhead, listing similar categories together. By the end
of the activity, they should have a clear idea of the multiple
motivations for the burst of territorial expansion in the
second half of the century.
European Explorers in Africa
Map work is always useful to familiarize students with
modern-day boundaries, shifts in state boundaries, and
geographic particularities. Th is chapter is perfect for using
maps of Africa as a way to enhance students’ knowledge of
European exploration of the African interior. Provide stu-
dents with two copies of a map of Africa that includes the
main geographic features, such as the map found at:
www.enchantedlearning.com/africa/rivers/
outlinemaplabeled/
With the textbook, lead your students through a class
discussion of how the African continent looked prior to
the “scramble for Africa.” Have your students mark the
major empires and states on the map, such as Asante,
Mahdist, Herero, Ethiopia, Morocco, and the Sokoto Em-
pire. You can fi nd a fi nished product at:
198 ◆ Chapter 17 Nations and Empires, 1850–1914
www.artsci.wustl.edu/~anthro/courses/306/polities.
htm.
Then help them mark the paths of exploration that
Henry Morton Stanley took that fi nally opened the “dark
continent” to the Europeans. His most significant jour-
ney, at the behest of King Leopold II of Belgium, started
at Boma and ended in Zanzibar. See:
encarta.msn.com/media_461547325/Stanley%E2%
80%99s_ Explorations.html.
Throughout provide anecdotal information about the ex-
plorers, their goals, their contact with Africans and its impact,
and the final outcomes. With the last map, if time allows, you
can have students show the outcome of Stanley’s explora-
tion, which led to the call for the Berlin Conference and the
orderly division of Africa among the European powers:
www.homestead.com/wysinger/berlinconference.html
By physically marking the changes on the map, students
can see how European decisions ignored tribal, cultural,
linguistic, and familial connections. The boundaries that
we see in Africa today and consider impermeable were
arbitrary lines on a page made in a distant room without
thought of the lives affected. The world still lives with
those decisions.
Nineteenth-Century Russia and Japan
To explore the theme “nations and empires” a group activ-
ity comparing and contrasting Russia and Japan in the sec-
ond half of the nineteenth century can be useful. Divide
students into groups of five to seven. Assign each group
one of the two nations so that you will have several groups
of Russia and of Japan. Prepare a handout that explains
the national humiliation each country suffered in the
1850s—Russia’s loss in the Crimean War and Admiral Per-
ry’s “opening” of Japan. These events forced people in each
realm to recognize that they were unable to protect them-
selves against attacks by Europe and the United States.
Th is seriously threatened their independence. Groups
within the two nations emerged that wanted to pursue re-
form and modernize along the lines of the West. But to do
so they knew they had to respect their culture’s traditions.
They had to blend the old and the new to succeed. Thus
they faced many challenges; Japan was resource poor, for
example, while Russia still had serfdom. Have students re-
view the handout and then create a modernization policy
for their country. Once they have accomplished this, come
back together as a class. Have each group present its policy
plan, discuss them, and fi nally describe what the countries
actually did. For further information, see Peter Stearns’s,
The Industrial Revolution in World History (1993).
RECOMMENDED FILMS
■ The Four Feathers (1939, 130 min.; 2002, 131 min.). This
fi lm is one of several remakes, although the best known
are the version from 1939 and the version 2002. The 1939
production, much of which was fi lmed on location, is still
considered the best. Th is fi lm is useful for providing a fairly
faithful reenactment of the Batt le of Omdurman (1898) be-
tween the British and the Sudanese Islamic rebel the Mahdi
(in the 1939 fi lm) and the 1885 Batt le of Abu Klea (in the
2002 fi lm). The story is a good example of upper-class Brit-
ish opinion and the more subtle pressures that women ex-
erted on British men to fight for the empire and national
pride. One interesting difference between these two fi lms
is that the 1939 fi lm was made in support of “empire” and
Great Britain, whereas the 2002 fi lm was directed by Shek-
har Kapur, an Indian. Although it strongly emphasizes the
theme of imperialism, it reflects a more balanced perspec-
tive, taking the local population into account.
■ Lagaan: Once Upon a Time in India (2001, 155 min.).
Th is is a Bollywood fi lm extraordinaire with plenty of
singing and dancing, set in an Indian village in the late
nineteenth century. The story revolves around the villag-
ers’ struggle for survival at the hands of an often cruel, im-
perialist British commander who is taxing (“land tax” is
lagaan in Hindi) them beyond their resources. The village
leader manages to make a deal for a reprieve if the village
can win a cricket match against the British soldiers. The
fi lm allows you to discuss cultural differences, caste struc-
tures, imperialism, economic dependencies, religious
(Hindu) mores, and other aspects of the relationship be-
tween the British and Indian people. Students enjoy this
movie while learning a great deal from it.
■ The Last Samurai (2003, 148 min.). Although this
feature-length fi lm’s story line is inaccurate (it is very
loosely based on the Satsuma Rebellion of 1877), if you use
the fi lm for its representation of late nineteenth-century
European weapons; samurai armor, weapons, and Japanese
clothes; the samurai honor code; and the tension between
the emperor and the shogun you will provide your students
an excellent learning tool. For example, the costume de-
signer used period clothing displayed at Japan’s Institute of
Culture as the basis for all of the costumes. The president
of the institute and clothier to the Imperial Family created
the wardrobe for the fi lm’s Emperor Meiji and Katsuhito’s
garments. If you use this fi lm, caution students about its
significant problems. For example, the Frenchman who
trained the Japanese is replaced with an American. The
director blends several historical events (the Boshin War)
to make one story. Finally, the fi lm shows the confl ict as
being between traditional warfare methods and culture

and modern warfare methods and culture. In actuality all
parties used modern warfare methods. Good information
is available in the DVD extras.
■ The Meiji Period (1868–1912) (1989, 52 min.). This doc-
umentary recounts the opening of Japan to trade with Eu-
rope and North America. It discusses the transition from
the Shogunate to modern rule with the emperor’s face
turned to the West. Once the United States forced the
opening of the ports, the British, Russians, French, and
Dutch demanded the same rights. The changes were swift
and dramatic. Japan learned its lessons well.
■ New York: Episode 3, “Sunshine and Shadow” 1865–1898
(1999, 120 min.). Th is documentary highlights the inter-
national, bustling cosmopolitan life of New York City. The
goal of New Yorkers, as imperialists, was to get rich. The
fi lm uses period photographs and draws on iconic archi-
tecture, literature, and events to relay the opportunistic
and optimistic mood of the time. From reformers such as
Theodore Roosevelt and Boss “Tweed” to the establish-
ment of Central Park and the building of the Brooklyn
Bridge, New York had a life about it unlike that of any
other city in the world. Portions of this fi lm work well
with some of the suggested class activities and lectures re-
garding technological advances and imperialism.
RECOMMENDED READING
W. G. Beasley, 1987. Japanese Imperialism, 1894–1945.
David Bushnell and Neill Macauley, 1994. The Emergence
of Latin America in the Nineteenth Century.
Colin G. Calloway, 1996. Our Hearts Fell to the Ground:
Plains Indian Views of How the West Was Lost
(Bedford Series in History and Culture).
Mike Davis, 2002. Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño
Famines and the Making of the Third World.
Eduardo Galeano, 1997. Open Veins of Latin America: Five
Centuries of the Pillage of a Continent.
David Gillard, 1978. The Struggle for Asia, 1828–1914: A
Study in British and Russian Imperialism.
Liah Greenfeld, 2007. Nationalism: Five Roads to Modernity.
Daniel R. Headrick, 1981. The Tools of Empire: Technology
and European Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century.
Adam Hochschild, 1998. King Leopold’s Ghost: A Story of
Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa.
Steven Howe, 2002. Ireland and Empire: Colonial Legacies
in Irish History and Culture.
Patricia Limerick, 1987. The Legacy of Conquest: The
Unbroken Past of the American West.
Chapter 17 Nations and Empires, 1850–1914 ◆ 199
Thomas Pakenham, 1991. The Scramble for Afr ica, 1876–
1912.
Peter Stearns, 1993. The Industrial Revolution in World
History.
WEB SITES
Around the World in the 1890s: Photographs from the
World’s Transportation Commission, 1894–1896
Extensive archive of travel photographs from around the
world; links to teaching suggestions
memory.loc.gov/ammem/wtc/wtchome.html
The British Empire
Excellent site with a variety of source materials
www.britishempire.co.uk/empire.htm
Women’s Work
Provides details across classes and lifestyles in Europe
and the place of children and women in the family
www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/victorians/
womens_work_01.shtml
History of the American West
Archival collection with extensive images from the
period
memory.loc.gov/ammem/award97/codhtml/
hawphome.html
Internet Modern History Sourcebook
Includes sections on media, primary source images,
documents, teaching materials, and so on.
www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook.html
Internet Modern History Sourcebook: Imperialism
Subentry of Modern History Sourcebook, with focus on
documents regarding imperialism
www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook34.html
Photos and Images of the Dutch East Indies
Good source for historical photos, but resources on this
topic are limited on the web
home.iae.nl/users/arcengel/NedIndie/photos.htm
Spartacus Educational
Detailed resources on British Victorian education, child
labor, and laws regarding children
www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/IRchild.main.htm
The World of 1898: The Spanish-American War
General overview of historical events
www.loc.gov/rr/hispanic/1898/
CH A PTER 18

An Unsettled World,
1890–1914

▶ Progress, Upheaval, and Movement ▶ Cultural Modernism

New Industries Drove Economic Growth and Popular Culture Comes of Age
Urbanization Europe’s Cultural Modernism
Peoples in Motion Cultural Modernism in China
▶ Discontent with Imperialism ▶ Rethinking Race and Reimagining Nations
Unrest in Africa Nation and Race in North America and Europe
The Boxer Uprising in China Race-Mixing and the Problem of Nationhood in
▶ Worldwide Insecurities Latin America
Imperial Rivalries Come Home Sun Yat-sen and the Making of a Chinese Nation
Financial, Industrial, and Technological Insecurities Nationalism and Invented Traditions in India
The “Woman Question” The Pan Movements
Class Confl ict in a New Key

LECTURE OUTLINE 1. In Europe and the United States, left-wing

radicals and middle-class reformers sought
At the turn of the century, Europeans and people of Eu-
political and social change
ropean descent occupied a commanding position in the
2. In places colonized by Europe and
world. They led a world in which scientific and technologi-
the United States, resentment grew
cal advancements promised to usher in an age of progress
toward colonial rulers and indigenous
and prosperity. Yet theirs was a world unsett led. At home
collaborators
social and economic dislocations were producing pro-
3. Revolutions in China, Mexico, and Russia
nounced unrest and anxiety. Social problems abounded
toppled autocratic regimes
in cities where the rich and powerful lived right next door
B. New industries drove economic growth and
to the poor and the not-so-poor. Women increasingly agi-
urbanization
tated for greater independence and enhanced political and
1. Growing capitalism also led to rising
legal rights. New directions in the arts and sciences, or
inequalities
“modernism,” questioned fundamental religious assump-
2. Industrialization changed how and where
tions and traditional values. Abroad, agitation against in-
people worked
digenous elites or colonial rulers abounded. Everywhere
3. Widespread rural-to-urban migration
personal and national identities came unraveled. Race,
4. Cities gained magnificent new cultural
more than ever before, became a central feature of iden-
institutions such as museums and libraries,
tity and justification for inequalities. National identities
which at least a minority of residents had the
became even stronger. Th is unsett lement contributed to
leisure time and disposable income to enjoy
the tensions that caused World War I.
5. Cities also housed millions in crowded,
I. Progress, Upheaval, and Movement disease-ridden slums
A. Some benefited from changes in the years before a. Confl icts between the rich and the
1914; others faced social and economic frustration poor abounded, particularly when city

200

administrations tried to improve or
beautify urban blight
C. European and North American intellectuals
worried about the world’s future; they wrote
about the downside of progress
1. The writings of intellectuals of the type
labeled modernism
2. Modernist ideas circulated the globe
including European and North American
colonies
D. Peoples in motion
1. Mass emigration took place globally
a. Europeans moved to America and
Australia
b. Indians moved to other parts of South
Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean
c. Chinese moved to North and South
America, New Zealand, Hawaii, West
Indies, and Southeast Asia
d. Many migrated within their own
country
2. Varied reasons why people emigrated
a. Mine workers
b. Colonial officials and soldiers
c. Missionaries
d. Merchants and traders
3. Emigration was risky and could bring
isolation in the new land
a. Male migrants outnumber females
b. Social and labor problems abounded as
cities tried to accommodate the growing
migrant population
4. Few restrictions anywhere until 1914
a. U.S. Chinese Exclusion Act, 1892
b. Most viewed immigrants as a positive
force in the economy
5. Cities boomed and led to the idea of city
planning
6. Urban life transformed women’s lives
a. More jobs available
b. Increased literacy and cheaper reading
materials
c. Ready-made clothes and goods allowed
women more leisure time
II. Discontent with Imperialism
A. Although Europeans had quashed initial local
resistance to their colonial rule, animosity to
their rule in Asia and Africa continued after
1890; indeed, Europeans found themselves
suppressing unrest in their colonies with more
force and bloodshed
Chapter 18 An Unsettled World, 1890–1914 ◆ 201
B. Unrest in Africa
1. African resistance, whether organized or
not, continued into the twentieth century
a. Th is resistance made thoughtful
Europeans uneasy as to why Africans
would resist the “benefits” of the
European civilizing mission
2. The most devastating colonial war in Africa
during this time was the South African
(Boer) War (1899–1902), which pitted
Britain against the Afrikaners, descendants
of Dutch sett lers living in the Transvaal
and the Orange Free State in southern
Africa
a. The war revolved around control of gold
resources
b. Ultimately the British won, but not
without enormous expenditure in men,
matériel, and prestige
i. British tactics of confi ning
civilians to concentration camps
were publicized throughout the
world
3. German genocidal treatment of the Herero
and San peoples in German Southwest
Africa between 1904 and 1906 also
aroused public revulsion in the Western
world
4. Equally troubling was the Maji-Maji revolt
in German East Africa in 1905–1906
5. Westerners tried to rationalize these
incidents
a. They argued that the Africans were
fanatics
b. Other times they were critical of
other imperial countries’ colonial
administrations whose brutality and
incompetence had provoked this
rebelliousness
c. For the most part they argued that
rebellions were aberrations and seldom
questioned the overall thrust of
colonialism
C. The Boxer Uprising in China
1. Forces within and without unsett led China
at the turn of the century
a. Overpopulation strained resources
b. Inertia constrained the Qing dynasty
from responding to social and economic
problems
i. The court was divided between
conservatives and reformers
202 ◆ Chapter 18 An Unsettled World, 1890–1914
a. In 1898, conservatives seized
control
ii. After the Sino-Japanese War in
1894–1895, the Japanese and
other Western powers pushed for
“spheres of influence” in China
iii. The United States proposed an
“open door” policy that would keep
all of China open to all traders but
demanded that China adhere to
Western political and economic
conventions
2. Out of this unsett lement emerged the
Boxer Uprising
a. Boxers were peasants and landholders
who blamed Western Christian
missionaries and their Chinese converts
for the country’s condition
i. The movement flourished in
northern China, an area hit hard
by natural disasters and harsh
economic conditions
ii. Women also participated in the
movement as “Red Lanterns”
b. Boxers believed that they possessed
super powers that protected them from
earthly weapons
c. The Qing court threw its weight behind
the uprising
d. In 1900, the Boxers harassed and
sometimes killed Christians, destroyed
railroad tracks and telegraph lines, and
besieged foreign embassies in Beijing
e. A multinational foreign army crushed
the Boxers and further undermined
the Qing dynasty’s capability of ruling
China
III. Worldwide Insecurities
A. Imperial rivalries come home
1. The creation of a European-centered world
deepened rivalries within Europe and
promoted instability
a. The unification of Italy and of Germany
smashed the old balance of power
b. New alliances appeared pitt ing Britain,
France, and Russia against Germany
c. An arms race ensued as confl ict
heightened
B. Financial, industrial, and technological
insecurities
1. Small-scale, laissez-faire capitalism had
given way to an economic order dominated
by huge fi rms
2. Instead of smooth progress, the
economy of the West bounced between
booms and busts
3. Financiers became important as borrowing
and lending became instrumental in
industrial growth
a. Banks in London were at the center of
global fi nances
4. Journalists in the United States
increasingly exposed the skullduggery
that many of these fi nancial and industrial
giants committed to enrich or empower
themselves
a. Reformers soon called for greater
governmental regulation
b. Wealthy industrialists such as J. P.
Morgan used their money to make
banks solvent
c. In 1913, the United States created the
Federal Reserve System to oversee the
nation’s money and bankers
5. National economic matters increasingly
became international affairs
a. In 1907, a fi nancial crisis in the United
States provoked similar crises in
Canada, Mexico, and Egypt
6. Industrialization spread to places such as
Russia, but remained uneven
a. Southern Europe and the American
South lagged behind northern regions
b. Most colonies lacked industrial
enterprises except mines and railroads
7. Economic progress came at a cost
a. Trains and ships connected local
communities to the wider world, but
often destroyed local customs
b. Factories produced cheaper goods but
polluted the countryside
c. “Scientific management” often left
workers as nothing more than cogs in a
machine
d. Cities also housed millions in crowded,
disease-ridden slums
i. Confl icts between the rich and
the poor abounded, particularly
when city administrations tried
to improve on or beautify urban
blight

C. The “woman question”
1. Women in Western countries increasingly
challenged the idea of separate spheres
a. At century’s end, women were
increasingly employed as teachers,
secretaries, typists, department store
clerks, and telephone operators and
thus gained some social and economic
independence
b. Women also gained greater access to
education and many of them entered
previously all-male professions
c. Other women became involved in
public reform movements
d. Many women began to limit the amount
of children they had
i. Contraceptives were illegal in most
countries, but women found ways
around the laws
2. The push for woman’s suff rage increased,
but had very limited success
a. Middle-class women were not seeking
gender equality, despite seeking a
greater public role
b. Radicalized women, however, did
challenge the established order
3. Westerners argued that colonialism
benefited women
a. Colonial regimes did not support veil-
ing, footbinding, widow-burning, etc.
b. In reality, colonialism often added to
women’s burdens
i. As male workers were drawn
into the export economy, the
responsibility for domestic
production fell on women
ii. In Africa, the growth of mining
and large estate production meant
that men were often gone for much
of the year
iii. European schools excluded women
as did many European property-
law practices
D. Class confl ict in a new key
1. Although living conditions improved,
growing inequality of incomes produced
sharper class confl ict
a. Most of this confl ict remained peaceful
and moderate
i. The popularity of the Labour
Party in Britain and the Social
Chapter 18 An Unsettled World, 1890–1914 ◆ 203
Democratic Party in Germany
epitomized this development
b. In conservative regimes with less
openness, however, radicalism grew and
often turned violent
i. Russia and Latin America
witnessed the growth of radical
movements
c. The United States did not see the
emergence of a successful labor party or
radical factions; instead it saw workers
attempt, often unsuccessfully, to form
unions
2. A few upheavals succeeded in overturning
the status quo from below
a. The temporary success of the 1905
Russian Revolution gave rise to a
representative government that used
workers’ soviets, which were groups
of delegates, to represent particular
industries
b. The Mexican Revolution in 1910 saw
peasants overthrow the Díaz regime
and brought about a new regime by
1920 that respected democracy, the
sovereignty of peasant communities,
and land reform
i. Nearly 1 million Mexicans died in
the confl ict
ii. The new regime used new
national myths to rejuvenate
the new republic based on the
heroism of rural peoples, Mexican
nationalism, and a celebration of
the Aztec past
3. In other areas, conservative regimes agreed
to piecemeal reforms to stay in power
a. Germany enacted social welfare
measures in the 1880s
b. The United States experienced a burst of
reforms in the early twentieth century
that supporters labeled “Progressive”
i. These reforms attacked political
and corporate corruption as well as
urban vices
ii. 1906 Meat Inspection Act
c. Europe saw similar patterns
IV. Cultural Modernism
A. Modernism appeared in the arts and sciences in
the early twentieth century
204 ◆ Chapter 18 An Unsettled World, 1890–1914
1. Modernism explored the power of the
irrational
2. Modernist movements trafficked in
multiple directions internationally
3. Modernism was less elitist and more
democratic
4. Modern artists abandoned harmonic and
diatonic sound and representational art
5. Modernism replaced the certainties of the
Enlightenment with the unsett ledness of a
new time
B. Popular culture comes of age
1. Popular culture changed in the late
nineteenth century
a. New forms appeared such as dance
halls, vaudeville, and sports
b. Publishers catered to different markets,
especially as more and more people
could read
i. Newspapers such as the English
Daily Mail and the New York
World had circulations of over one
million and appealed to readers
with litt le education
ii. Books increased in number and fell
in price
a. The Mexican printmaker José
Guadalupe Posada developed a
forerunner of comics
c. The kind of culture one consumed
became a reflection of status or desired
status
d. Artists, scholars, and writers in different
regions tried to adapt to social, political,
and economic changes all around them
and produced new variations on old
forms of work
C. Europe’s cultural modernism
1. In intellectual and artistic terms, Europe
at the turn of the century experienced
perhaps the richest age it had experienced
since the Renaissance
a. Durkheim, Freud, and Le Bon studied
and theorized about human behavior
and focused on irrational behavior
b. Primitivism, or the new appreciation
for non-Western art, emerged in the art
world
i. Picasso led the way in
incorporating non-Western themes
into his art
ii. Antibourgeois att itudes also
affected art
c. Composers such as Richard Wagner
stretched the limits of conventional
harmonies; Arthur Schoenberg
abandoned them altogether
d. Isadora Duncan pioneered free-form,
expressive dance
2. Scientists challenged the ideas of progress
and reason
a. Darwin claimed that progress could
not be achieved without a “struggle for
existence”
b. James Maxwell described the law of
entropy
i. Scientists began to abandon the
Enlightenment idea that man
could control nature
ii. In physics, probabilities began to
take the place of certainties
3. Overall, faith in rationalism declined
a. Nietzsche argued that rationality
without passion led to machinelike
idiocy
b. Freud introduced sexual longings and
childhood traumas to explain human
behavior
D. Cultural modernism in China
1. Intellectuals in China offered different
answers to the question of modernity
a. As in the West, Chinese authors could
now write for a wider audience
2. In many ways, they presented competing
modernities
a. They offered critical reflection on
Chinese traditions and ambivalent
reactions to Western culture
b. The Shanghai School of painting
incorporated indigenous and foreign
traditions
c. Photography studios opened in
southern treaty ports
d. Fantasy novels drew on Western science
and indigenous beliefs
3. Chinese artists struggled to fi nd a balance
between Western thought and traditional
Chinese learning
V. Rethinking Race and Reimagining Nations
A. Despite the reshuffl ing of ideas and people at
the turn of the century, people and nations

defended the idea of identities as deeply rooted
and unchangeable
1. The Linnaean classification system
became the means for ranking whole
nations
2. Racial roots became a crucial part of
cultural identity
3. Who one was became increasingly defi ned
by biology
4. In the West, science was used to sanction
racial inequalities
a. Scientists spoke of separate white, black,
yellow, and red races
b. Doctors warned against racial mixing,
believing that mixed types were weak
and likely to become prostitutes,
criminals, and homosexuals
5. Race was discussed worldwide as people
looked for stability in a rapidly changing
world
6. Th is voice produced new national
movements
B. Nation and race in North America and
Europe
1. At the turn of the century, Americans
worried that they had exhausted what had
once been an inexhaustible supply of land
and resources with the “closing” of the
frontier in 1890
a. President Theodore Roosevelt (1901–
1909) established many conservation
policies, such as the National Forest
Service
b. Roosevelt also expanded national parks
and wildlife reserves to give Americans
a chance to “play pioneer”
2. White Americans also were anxious about
the changing complexion of American
society
a. In the South, racial segregation and
inequality were codified through Jim
Crow laws
b. In the West, Chinese immigration was
curtailed
c. White Americans also worried about
immigrants from eastern and southern
Europe and colonial subjects in the
Philippines and Puerto Rico
3. Europeans shared similar anxieties as
Americans, millions became obsessed with
racial purity
Chapter 18 An Unsettled World, 1890–1914 ◆ 205
a. Racial identities hardened in
colonies where racial mixing became
discouraged
b. In Europe and America, schoolboys
were encouraged to play sports to
strengthen the nation
c. Jews were blamed for “decadence” in
society, especially in Austria, Germany,
France, and Russia
C. Race mixing and the problem of nationhood in
Latin America generated special anxieties
1. In an age of acute nationalism, the mixed
racial composition of Latin Americans
worried elites
a. Indians were often viewed as an obstacle
to change in Mexico
b. In Brazil and Cuba, observers made
the same claim about African
Americans
c. Poor European migrants traveling to
booming cities complicated an already
complicated picture
2. Leaders and writers promoted unity by
evoking a mythic past
a. In Mexico General Díaz exalted Father
Hidalgo and Aztec grandeur
i. José Vasconcelos, an opponent
of Díaz, also promoted Mexico’s
Indian past, arguing that Mexico’s
greatness flowed from its mixture
of cultures
D. Sun Yat-sen and the making of a Chinese nation
1. As elsewhere, the pace of change generated
the desire to trace one’s roots back to
secure foundations
2. The Chinese looked back before the Qing
dynasty to Han China for inspiration
3. Sun Yat-sen blasted the Manchus and
trumpeted the image of a “true” Chinese
political community
a. Sun, who was from Canton and Western
educated, lived much of his life overseas
because of political persecution
b. He envisioned and promoted a
democratic China, free of Manchu rule,
with an economic system based on
equalized land rights
i. He believed that in this manner
China could join the world
community of nation-states on a
more equal footing
206 ◆ Chapter 18 An Unsettled World, 1890–1914
c. At fi rst, his ideas appealed to Chinese
living overseas
d. When the Qing dynasty was
overthrown in 1911–1912, Sun returned
to China to promote his ideas
e. Eventually, China would be
reconstituted, based largely on his ideas
f. Sun believed the problem that faced
China after the overthrow of the Qing
was assimilating minorities into the
nation
E. Nationalism and invented traditions in India
1. British colonialism increasingly turned
unified territory into a “nation” in many
minds
2. In the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries, a resistance movement emerged
that talked of Indians as “a people” with a
“national” past and traditions
a. The leaders of this movement were
Western educated
i. They had developed colloquial
languages into standardized
literary forms
ii. Th is development allowed for the
publication of journals, magazines,
newspapers, etc. in indigenous
languages
3. The growth of print cultures went hand
in hand with the growth of a new public
sphere where the intelligentsia discussed
and debated social and political matters
a. Voluntary associations proliferated in
big cities
b. Eventually urban professionals founded
the Indian National Congress
i. They demanded greater
representation of Indians in
administrative and legislative
bodies
ii. They also criticized government
policies
4. Underlying political assertiveness was
cultural nationalism
a. Nationalists claimed Indians were a
people based on their unique culture
and common history, especially a
colonial history
b. As in Latin America, Indian nationalists
delved into the past and rewrote
histories in order to establish a modern
but non-Western identity
c. Intellectuals reconfigured Hinduism so
that it resembled Western religion
5. In the process of fashioning this identity,
Indian revivalists often became narrow in
their vision
a. Muslim tradition was deemphasized as
Hindu traditions were exalted
6. Hindu revivalism became a powerful
political force by the close of the
nineteenth century
a. When British authorities partitioned
Bengal into two territories—one
predominantly Hindu, the other
Muslim—Hindu militants protested
and boycotted British goods
i. Activists formed voluntary
organizations (Swadeshi Samitis)
to promote the indigenous
manufacturing of soap, cloth,
medicine, iron, and paper
a. Although most failed, these
enterprises symbolized a desire
for autonomy
b. The Swadeshi Movement swept aside
moderates in the Indian National
Congress
c. The Congress began a much broader
mass mobilization to assert political and
cultural autonomy
d. Hindu revivalists were not the only
nationalist movements to emerge
i. Others based on religion or
regionalism generated support
a. The Indian National Muslim
League was formed in 1906,
dedicated to the advancement
of political interests of Muslims
e. Unlike leaders of the Rebellion of 1857,
these nationalists imagined a modern
national community, something the
British found more difficult to control
F. The pan movements
1. Besides India and China, activists
elsewhere imagined new states based on
ethnic communities
2. These movements threatened multiethnic
and multireligious polities such as the
Ottoman and Habsburg empires
a. Pan-Islamism, founded by Jamal al-Din
Afghani, urged Muslims to overcome
their differences and unite against the
West

i. Muslims were confronted with
many identities at this time
a. Many in Syria and Lebanon
turned to the nation-state idea
as a means of imitating the West
and gaining more autonomy
b. Pan-Germanism gained followers across
central Europe
i. German-speaking elites in
Slavic lands were alarmed by the
assertion of Slavic nationalism
a. Pan-Slavism in eastern and
central Europe demanded
greater autonomy, if not
independent states, for this
region’s growing Slavic majority
b. As Russian persecution drove
Jews westward, German
resentment increased
ii. Georg von Schönerer founded the
League of German Nationalists in
1882 after the Habsburg Empire
failed to favor German nationals
a. Elected to the upper Austrian
house, he tried to pass anti-
Jewish legislation
b. He ultimately aimed to bring
Austrian Germans into the
German empire
c. Pan-Germanism and pan-Slavism gave
rise to militant groups that brought
about World War I
VI. Conclusion
A. Urbanization, industrialization, and
colonialism led many in the world to question
the Enlightenment idea of “progress”
B. To many ruling elite, the “people” were
developing the means to unseat them
1. Socialist and right-wing leaders were
learning how to exploit modern ideas and
identities through popular movements
C. The world economy seemed unbalanced
1. Disparities in wealth abounded
2. Integrated world markets increasingly
interrupted traditional economies
3. Powerful corporations and banks
threatened small fi rms and individuals
D. Anxieties produced creative energies in the arts
and sciences
1. Non-Western artists used Western forms to
present anti-Western ideas
Chapter 18 An Unsettled World, 1890–1914 ◆ 207
E. Th is process was far from complete when
Europe blew up as the Great War began in 1914
LECTURE IDEAS
Minstrel Shows and Racial Identity
A lecture on the popularity of the minstrel show (blackface
vaudeville performers) in the United States and Europe at
the turn of the twentieth century explores the intersec-
tion of new forms of popular culture and the rethinking of
racial identities. For information, see Frank Sweet, A His-
tory of the Minstrel Show (2000), or W. T. Lhamon, Rais-
ing Cain: Blackface Performance from Jim Crow to Hip Hop
(2000). Images and sound fi les can be found at:
etext.lib.virginia.edu/railton /enam358 /index.html
Revival of the Olympic Games
An intriguing lecture for this chapter can center on the re-
vival of the Olympic games. The Frenchman Baron Pierre
de Coubertin’s efforts to revive the games, which began
again in 1896, captured both the optimism and anxieties
at the turn of the twentieth century. The Olympics sym-
bolize fraternity and peace; on the other hand, the early
modern games excluded women and most colonial peo-
ples. They also represented Western anxieties that men
had become too soft and needed sports to revive their mas-
culinity. For further information see John J. MacAloon,
This Great Symbol: Pierre de Coubertin and the Origins of
the Modern Olympic Games (1981), and Allen Gutt mann,
The Olympics: A History of the Modern Games (1994).
Birth of a Nation
Showing a clip from the movie Birth of a Nation (1915)
can launch a lecture on growing racial anxieties in the
United States and Europe in the early twentieth century.
The fi lm depicts African Americans as brutes and ogres
bent on destroying white civilization. Ask students why
this view would have been so widely accepted at this time.
Also ask them to explain why white actors played the Af-
rican American villains. Useful information can be found
in Robert Lang (ed.), The Birth of a Nation (1994).
Columbian Exposition
A brief overview of the Chicago Columbian Exposition in
1893 can help set the mood for the confl ict between the
ideas of progress with the growing anxieties in the West
around the turn of the twentieth century. For informa-
tion see Robert Muccigrosso, Celebrating the New World:
208 ◆ Chapter 18 An Unsettled World, 1890–1914
Chicago’s Columbian Exposition of 1893 (1993). Images to
use in class can be found at:
www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/1893fair.
html
Woman Suffrage
The woman suff rage movement emerged out of activist
women’s experiences fighting for the abolition of slavery,
for temperance, and for human rights. While supporting
such causes, middle-class Victorian women acquired a
freedom they might have never had. Once the door was
open, they never went back. Thus began the woman suf-
frage movement, or what has also been called the fi rst
wave of feminism. At Seneca Falls, New York, in July
1848, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Lucretia Mott held the
fi rst women’s rights convention. Th is important historical
period is litt le discussed, yet it was very relevant to events
going on around the world. A lecture recounting the de-
tails of the struggle these early women faced, their fi rst
accomplishments, and their impact on the world helps to
round out students’ vision of this era. For more informa-
tion see:
www.suff ragist.com/timeline.htm
and the chapters “The Beginnings of First-Wave Femi-
nism” and “Issues in First-Wave Feminism” (pp. 197–280)
in Marlene LeGates’s, In Their Time: A History of Feminism
in Western Society (2001).
The First Genocide of the Twentieth Century
The genocide of the Herero and the San peoples has now
been accepted as the fi rst genocide of the twentieth cen-
tury. Clear links between the genocidal policies put into
place by the Germans in Namibia have been made to the
later Armenian genocide by the Ottoman Empire and
then the Holocaust. If the German imperialists had been
unsuccessful in slaughtering the Herero and San, would
the later genocides have occurred or would they have oc-
curred on such a grand scale? Students hunger for the op-
portunity to learn more about these kinds of historical
events, both the facts and the ethical questions they bring
to light. For more information see:
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herero_and_Namaqua_
Genocide
and Jan-Bart Gewald’s 1999 book Herero Heroes: A
Socio-Political History of the Herero of Namibia, 1890–
1923. Numerous edited volumes have chapters on the
Herero genocide: Frank Chalk and Kurt Jonassohn, The
History and Sociology of Genocide (1990); Adam Jones,
Genocide: A Comprehensive Introduction (2007); and Sam-
uel Totten et al., eds., Century of Genocide: Eyewitness Ac-
counts and Critical Views (1997).
CLASS ACTIVITIES
Stereoscopic Photographs
Photographs as historical material are incredibly useful.
During the age of imperialism the wonder of photography
made such archives all the more valuable. But although
photographs can also distort history just as texts can, we
often follow the old adage, it is in black and white, so it
must be true. Break your students into groups and pro-
vide each group with a photograph. Have them evaluate
the photo in terms of location, time frame, and what they
believe may be happening within the photo. Come back
together and let each group show its photo. Have each
group explain what it perceives is happening and cite the
historical details they can discern. Once they have done
this you can tell them what is really happening. Discuss
how far apart the group evaluation and the actual events
are. What other information would students have needed
to reach the correct conclusion? How can historians avoid
making these kinds of mistakes? Some possible sources
for photos are the Library of Congress and the New York
Public Library at:
www.memory.loc.gov
digital.nypl.org/dennis/stereoviews.
City Building and Great Architecture
When discussing Latin America, you can show students
images of the Teatro Amazonas Opera House in Manaus,
Brazil, built in the 1890s from rubber profits; see:
darkwing.uoregon.edu/~sergiok/brasil/manausopera.
html
Compare the Teatro Amazonas with images of the
Opera House in Paris, built between 1857 and 1874 by
Charles Garnier; see:
www.greatbuildings.com/buildings/Paris_Opera.
html
The Manaus Opera House was built in a neoclassical,
Italianate style. The Paris Opera is considered one of the
great buildings of the century. Students should use the im-
ages and historical context to discern the motivations of
the residents of each city for constructing these buildings.
What were the styles and intent of the buildings? What
 Chapter 18 An Unsettled World, 1890–1914 ◆ 209

Debate Matrix1, i

Name:
Date of Debate:
Debate Topic: Example
Your Personal Position in Debate:
Argument Supporting Evidence for Argument
1.

2.

3.

iHere is an example of how to complete a matrix. Once you understand the concept, delete this line before printing the matrix. If you

complete online, then you can type to the length you need and then print it out.

Example
Debate Position: The sky is not naturally blue
Argument Supporting Evidence
Argument 1 a. Joe Smith tested the flakes found below the sky and the flakes were paint
(Smith, 2007 p. 24).
Much of the blue color is believed to be paint.
b. Sandy Schmandy was interviewed by the scientists and claims to have been one of
the original painters. The paint she provided matches Joe Smith’s flakes of paint
(Winters, 1995).

Argument 2 a. Astronauts who have traveled into outer space say that the sky isn’t blue once you
The portions that are not painted are thought pass a certain spot, so it can be concluded that reflection from the sun makes
to be reflective. it blue.
b.

1Quotes, citation of texts, etc. are all good ways to strengthen your argument.
210 ◆ Chapter 18 An Unsettled World, 1890–1914
were they supposed to symbolize? Why would citizens in
Manaus want to emulate their Parisian counterparts? At
the time they began building the Teatro Amazonas, only
about one hundred families had the money or the desire
to be entertained there.
The Federal Reserve Bank
Using the creation of the Federal Reserve and the debate
at the time regarding the appropriateness of its creation,
have your students read the following two documents:
Congressman Ron Paul’s 2002 speech to Congress “Abol-
ish the Federal Reserve,” found at:
www.house.gov/paul/congrec/congrec2002/
cr091002b.htm
and “The Federal Reserve System in Brief ” at:
www.frbsf.org/publications/federalreserve/
fedinbrief/index.html
Students can do further research on their own if they
wish. The Ludwig von Mises Institute is a reputable site
that produces information critical of the system. You can
fi nd multiple pro-Reserve sites. Make sure students un-
derstand that historical context will help them in forming
their opinion. Once they have developed an opinion and
gathered enough information, have them complete the de-
bate matrix on the previous page. The intent of the matrix
is to help students develop a position on a particular point
that is logical and grounded in fact. In this instance you
can give them the question: As a private bank, the Fed-
eral Reserve should be dismantled and the gold system
reinstated in the United States. Yes or no? In class they
can use the materials on the matrix to debate their cho-
sen position. Th is question is not easily answerable. Stu-
dents often base their opinion on their political leaning.
For that reason you can create a more rigorous and often
more interesting activity by assigning them a position
before the readings. Th is forces them to develop an argu-
ment they may not agree with and hone debating skills
that are grounded in historical, factual details. Most stu-
dents enjoy these activities very much. The matrix helps
shy students because they have something to say prepared
in advance.
Boxer Uprising and Eurocentrism
To explore the Boxer Uprising in China, show an appropri-
ate clip from the fi lm 55 Days in Peking from 1963 starring
Charlton Heston. Th is Hollywood depiction captures tra-
ditional Eurocentric att itudes toward the uprising and to-
ward the Chinese in general. The besieged foreigners are
represented as heroes, modernizers, benevolent, innocent,
and so on, whereas the Chinese come off as barbaric and
evil. What the fi lm does not explore is the Chinese side
to the story. Have students discuss why these Eurocentric
att itudes toward this episode remain so prevalent in our
culture. Ask them to develop a Sinocentric explanation of
the events. Two books provide useful background. For the
European experience, see Diana Preston, The Boxer Rebel-
lion: The Dramatic Story of China’s War on Foreigners That
Shook the World in the Summer of 1900 (2001). For more
exploration of the Boxers, see Joseph W. Esherick, Origins
of the Boxer Uprising (1988).
RECOMMENDED FILMS
■ December Bride (1991, 90 min.). Th is feature fi lm,
set in rural Ireland, is based on Sam Hanna Bell’s 1951
novel about the rigid religious rules in rural Protestant,
turn-of-the-twentieth-century Northern Ireland. The
story revolves around the period’s patriarchal laws re-
garding inheritance and land ownership: in Ulster, only
fi rst-born Protestant males could own land. The protago-
nist, an unmarried young woman working for two single
brothers, becomes pregnant but refuses to marry either
brother and is forced to fight the community and society
in an effort to create political change. A part of the Ire-
land into Film Series, the fi lm provides an opportunity to
consider Ulster’s Protestant history. A book is available to
support the fi lm, the works of Sam Hanna Bell, and fur-
ther discussions of the period: Lance Pett itt, December
Bride (2002).
■ Expo: Magic of the White City (2005, 116 min.). Expo is
a documentary about the Chicago World’s Fair of 1893,
officially the World’s Columbian Exposition. Narrated
by Gene Wilder, it recounts many of the important cul-
tural contributions of the fair, from the work of Frederick
Law Olmstead and Daniel Burnham to the introduction
of the fi rst amusement park and the scientific advances of
Nikola Tesla, Thomas Edison, and George Westinghouse.
Th is will work with the Lecture Idea on the World’s Fair.
■ In Search of History: The Boxer Rebellion (50 min.).
Using Hong Kong’s return to China in 1997 allowed the
director to help us relate to China’s struggle for autonomy,
which has been ongoing since before the Opium Wars.
Shift ing from Hong Kong’s celebration to 1900, we trace
violence led not by the Chinese government but by the
people in a populist revolt against all foreigners, primar-
ily missionaries and foreign religion—the Boxer Rebel-
lion. The fi lm explores the uprising’s roots. The Boxers (or
Fists of Righteous Harmony), martial artists from mostly
peasant classes, believed themselves impervious to bul-

lets. As more and more peasants joined, the movement
spread across the country swift ly and violently, leading
to the revolution of 1911 and the rise of Sun Yat-sen. The
momentous crushing of the revolt brought an end to two
thousand years of rule by monarchy and made China vul-
nerable to Japan’s growing imperialism.
■ Junoon (1978, 141 min.). Junoon is an Urdu word for
craziness or obsession and thus describes the overarching
point of this feature fi lm, set during the Indian Rebellion
of 1857. Junoon won multiple awards. It is the story of a
Muslim militia leader who falls in love with a Christian
“Ferangi” girl while fighting British forces. For teaching
purposes, as one reviewer writes, “While the fi lm may not
be as detailed as today’s mammoth budget productions,
what the director manages to do is recreate a flavour, a
feeling of the life and times”:
in.rediff.com/movies/2005/aug/25junoon.htm
If you are trying to help your students understand a
point of view and a feeling for the time, the fi lm can ac-
complish your goal.
■ Mahatma Gandhi: The Great Soul Lives (1998, 60 min.).
Th rough the voices of those who knew him, this fi lm in-
corporates biography, history, and philosophy into its sixty
minutes. Beginning with Gandhi’s college life in London
and on to his law practice and ashram in South Africa,
the fi lm shows his personal growth toward a philosophy
of nonviolent action and a belief in independence for his
people. The interviews of his daughter-in-law and others
help us to visualize the growth of the Indian National
Congress and the struggle for India’s independence.
■ Mr. Sears’ Catalog (60 min.). Part of the PBS American
Experience series, this episode offers a look at the history
of rural America from the 1890s to the 1920s as well as
how it transformed American consumer culture by trac-
ing the growth of the Sears Roebuck Company through
the development of its “wish book.” As they made their
catalogue available to farms across America, Richard
Sears and Alva Curtis Roebuck revolutionized retail sales
and changed rural America.
■ Rise and Fall of Jim Crow, Part 1, “Promises Betrayed
(1865–1896)” (2002, 56 min.). Th is excellent documen-
tary explains how the term “Jim Crow” arose. It provides
the historical post-Reconstruction context, as well as the
trigger mechanism, i.e., African Americans’ attempts to
assert their constitutional rights. In addition, the docu-
mentary examines how the North supported and tacitly
approved the development of Jim Crow laws, leaving no
one innocent in the process. Although the focus of this
documentary is on U.S. policy, South African apartheid
Chapter 18 An Unsettled World, 1890–1914 ◆ 211
laws were being formalized at this time as well. The gen-
eral Western support for Social Darwinism as a reputable
science allowed for these kinds of actions. You can use
this fi lm to tie these pieces together. An accompanying
Web site with teaching resources is at:
www.pbs.org/wnet/jimcrow/
■ Rhodes: The Life and Legend of Cecil Rhodes (1996, six
parts, 455 min.). Th is BBC production is too lengthy and
detailed to use for anything other than brief teaching mo-
ments, but for this purpose it can be very useful. You can
point out various subthemes to students, such as the na-
tive African and Boer/Anglo relationships or the role of
missionaries in promoting colonialism. The series pro-
vides an excellent opportunity to discuss the meaning of
“kaffi rs” and the enforced restructuring of black Africans’
family systems due to apartheid. In addition, the fi lm pro-
vides a scene showing the philosopher John Ruskin deliv-
ering a sermon on imperialism at Oxford. Several scenes
impart the excitement of the diamond rush.
■ The Story of Elizabeth Cady Stanton and Susan B. An-
thony: Not for Ourselves Alone (1999, 210 min.). Th is docu-
mentary traces the struggle of Stanton and Anthony to
gain suff rage for women in a patriarchal society. The story
introduces viewers to the almost insurmountable batt le
that these women faced, both nationally and internation-
ally. As the founders of the suff rage movement and the
fi rst wave feminist movement, they were at the forefront
of the human rights movements and all significant politi-
cal issues of the time. Their vibrant and constant political
involvement allows you to choose a point in the documen-
tary that corresponds with your lecture and show an alter-
native historical perspective to an event.
■ Topsy: William Morris (1996, 57 min.). Some people re-
sponded to the second industrial revolution by reviving
age-old artisan skills. William Morris of Great Britain was
one of the leaders of the arts and crafts movement. Th is
documentary profi les England’s most influential designer,
known to his friends as Topsy. He and his allies (Dante
Gabriel Rossett i, Edward Burne-Jones, and others), some-
times known as the pre-Raphaelites, succeeded in creat-
ing some socialist reform in England and elsewhere. Their
influence is felt still today. Morris formed Morris and Co.,
at which books, fabrics, pottery, and other craft items were
hand made.
RECOMMENDED READINGS
Lynn Abrams, 2002. The Making of Modern Woman:
Europe 1789–1918.
A. Adu Boahen, 1989. African Perspectives on Colonialism.
212 ◆ Chapter 18 An Unsettled World, 1890–1914
Benedict Anderson, 1991. Imagined Communities:
Reflections on the Origin and Spread of Nationalism.
Marie-Claire Bergère, Janet Lloyd (translator), 2000. Sun
Yat-Sen.
Jan-Bart Gewald, 1999. Herero Heroes: A Socio-Political
History of the Herero of Namibia 1890–1923.
George Head Hamilton, 1994. Painting and Sculpture in
Europe, 1880–1940.
Alan Knight, 1986. The Mexican Revolution: Porfirians,
Liberals and Peasants.
Marlene LeGates, 2001. In Their Time: A History of
Feminism in Western Society.
Jim Masselos, 1998. Indian Nationalism.
Margaret H. McFadden, 1999. Golden Cables of
Sympathy: The Transatlantic Sources of Nineteenth-
Century Feminism.
S. C. M. Paine, 2005. The Sino-Japanese War of 1894–
1895: Perceptions, Power, and Primacy.
Diana Preston, 2001. The Boxer Rebellion: The Dramatic
Story of China’s War on Foreigners that Shook the
World in the Summer of 1900.
Edward Tannenbaum, 1976. 1900: The Generation before
the Great War.
Louise Tilly and Joan Scott, 1987. Women, Work, and
Family.
Richard H. Timberlake, 1993. Monetary Policy in the
United States: An Intellectual and Institutional
History.
WEB SITES
Herero and Namaqua Genocide
Brief history of Herero genocide in Namibia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herero_and_Namaqua_
Genocide
A History of the American Suff ragist Movement
Detailed timeline
www.suff ragist.com/timeline.htm
Anglo-Boer War Museum
Well-rounded source of information on the war
www.anglo-boer.co.za/
Classical Music Archives
Amazing collection of audio excerpts of classical music
www.classicalarchives.com/
A Digital Archive of American Architecture: World’s
Columbian Exhibition of 1893 in Chicago
Large collection of images, litt le supporting commentary
www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/1893fair.
html
Historical Atlas of the Twentieth Century
Maps to support a variety of discussions and dates
users.erols.com/mwhite28/20centry.htm
History of India: The Indian National Congress
Good overview
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_National_
Congress_ -_Freedom_ Era
New York Public Library: Small-Town America
Large collection of stereoscopic antique photographs of a
variety of American scenes
digital.nypl.org/dennis/stereoviews
19th Century Architecture: World’s Fair of 1900, Paris
Large collection of images, litt le supporting commentary
www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/arch/1900fair.
html
Votes for Women: Selections from the National American
Woman Suff rage Association Collection, 1848–1921
Primary-source documents
memory.loc.gov/ammem/naw/nawshome.html
WebMuseum: The Twentieth Century
Highlights of specific art styles
www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/tl/20th/
CH A PTER 19
Of Masses and Visions of
the Modern, 1910–1939
▶ Economic and Political Modernities
▶ The Great War, 1914–1918
The Fighting
Empire and War
The Russian Revolution
The Fall of the Central Powers
The Peace Sett lement and the Impact of the War
▶ Mass Culture
Radio
Film and Advertising
▶ Mass Production and Mass Consumption
Mass Production of the Automobile
The Great Depression
▶ Mass Politics: Competing Visions of Becoming
Modern
Liberal Capitalism under Pressure
LECTURE OUTLINE
World War I shook the foundations of the nineteenth-
century European-centered world. The war involved not
just soldiers, but whole societies. And although most of
the action centered on Europe and involved European
powers, the scale and the scope of the confl ict dragged
Asian, African, and North American societies into the
whirlwind. The war catalyzed the momentum toward
mass participation, mass consumption, and mass produc-
tion—or modernism—that was already emerging at the
dawn of the century. During the 1920s and 1930s, long
after the fighting ended, leaders and peoples around the
globe struggled with this development. How should soci-
eties be organized to reflect these new values and assump-
tions? The Great Depression of the 1930s heightened this
dilemma as it became clear that mass production and con-
sumption had failed to meet the material needs for many
members of society. In the wake of these developments,
three competing visions emerged for how to be modern:
British and French Responses to Economic Crisis
The American New Deal
Authoritarianism and Mass Mobilization
The Soviet Union
Italian Fascism
German Nazism
Militarist Japan
Common Features
The Hybrid Nature of Latin American Corporatism
Anticolonial Visions of Modern Life
African Stirrings
Imagining an Indian Nation
Chinese Nationalism
Peasant Populism in China: White Wolf
Postimperial Turkish Nation
The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt
liberal, authoritarian, or anticolonial. Not only was this
an intellectual competition, it meshed with geopolitical
rivalries and imperial networks, making the world a tin-
derbox of tension by the end of the 1930s.
I. Economic and Political Modernities
A. World War I shook the foundations of the Euro-
centered world
1. Confl ict in Africa and elsewhere fostered
new ideals about freedom and self-
determination
2. War led to accelerated mass production
and consumption
3. Postwar leaders had to deal with the
changes in production, consumption,
culture, and politics wrought by the war
4. Postwar events challenged liberal regimes
and paved the way for authoritarian ones
B. Becoming modern meant different things to
different segments of society
213
214 ◆ Chapter 19 Of Masses and Visions of the Modern, 1910–1939
1. Mass production and mass consumption
a. Henry Ford’s automobile
2. Th ree competing political visions of
modernism emerged
a. Liberal
b. Authoritarian
c. Anticolonial
3. United States and several European
countries modeled modernisms
a. Woman suff rage
b. Mass production and consumption
c. Popular entertainment
4. Great Depression undermined faith in
American model of liberal government
5. Great Depression’s effects led some on the
right and left to turn to authoritarianism
6. European and American colonials began to
reject colonialism and pushed for political
independence
E. Empire and war
II. The Great War 1914–1918
A. The causes of the war were complex
1. Tension could be traced to confl ict over
colonial territories
2. The decline of the Ottoman Empire
in southeastern Europe heightened
international tension between Russia and
Austria-Hungary
3. Economic and naval rivalry between
Britain and Germany further fueled
tension
B. By 1914, international rivalries had led to the
formation of military alliances
1. The Central Powers were Germany and
Austria-Hungary
2. The Triple Entente affi liated Britain,
France, and Russia
C. The assassination of the Archduke Francis
Ferdinand of Austria by a Serbian terrorist
proved to be the spark that set the alliances off
against each other
D. The fighting
1. Instead of a quick war, vast armies fought a
defensive war
a. Trenches on the Western Front went
from the English Channel to the Alps
i. Machine guns and barbed wire
guarded the trenches
ii. Life in the trenches proved tedious,
damp, dirty, and disease-ridden
2. By 1915, the war had grown into a
stalemate
a. The Batt le of Ypres in 1915 and the
Somme in 1916 saw hundreds of
thousands of casualties with litt le gain
for either side
3. Stalemate forced governments to enlist
more and more men so that millions were
serving in each belligerent army
a. Thousands of women served in auxiliary
units
b. Women replaced men in occupations on
the home front
c. Food shortages led women to rebel
against the state for food for their
children
4. By 1918, casualties exceeded 8 million,
with another 20 million wounded
a. Civilians suffered from aerial
bombardment, food shortages, and
disease
1. The horror of war reached across
continents
a. The Ottoman Empire, which joined the
Central Powers, batt led the British and
Russians in Asia Minor, Mesopotamia,
and the Caucasus
i. Ottoman forces massacred over
1 million ethnic Armenians,
claiming they were cooperating
with the Allies
b. Britain and France conscripted millions
of soldiers from their colonies and
dominions in Asia and Africa
i. In some colonies, subjects revolted
as the war dragged on
a. John Chilembwe led a revolt in
British Nyasaland
2. The war destroyed the Russian, Austria-
Hungarian, and Ottoman empires
3. The Russian Revolution
a. In Russia in 1917, military and civilian
elites overthrew the tsar in light of
growing unrest
b. Bolsheviks in turn overthrew them later
that year and then signed a peace treaty
with the Germans
i. Revolution led by Vladimir Lenin
and Leon Trotsky
4. The Fall of the Central Powers
a. The United States’ entry into the war in
1917 tipped the balance in favor of the
Allies
 Chapter 19 Of Masses and Visions of the Modern, 1910–1939 ◆ 215
b. In 1918, Germany was on the verge of
civil war and German generals agreed to
an armistice
i. The kaiser fled the country and the
empire became a republic
F. The peace sett lement and the impact of the war
1. The victors imposed a punitive peace on
Germany at the “peace conference” held at
the Palace of Versailles in 1919
a. The treaty assigned Germany sole
blame for the war, forced it to pay
reparations, and gave its colonies to the
victorious powers to be administered as
“mandates”
b. The American president, Woodrow
Wilson, had hoped for a more
harmonious and peaceful sett lement
i. His ideas for a League of Nations
and national self-determination
did see partial adherence in the
peace treaty
a. Many new nation-states
emerged in eastern and central
Europe but not beyond
b. The U.S. Senate ended up
refusing to ratify the treaty and
thus kept the United States out
of the League of Nations
i. Russia was also excluded
from the talks and the
League
2. The war ushered in other changes
a. Women did not retreat from new
responsibilities
i. In Russia, Britain, Germany, and
the United States, women gained
the right to vote in all elections
ii. Increasingly, young unmarried
women expressed their sexuality in
public
III. Mass Culture
A. The war politicized cultural activities and
broadened the audience for nationally oriented
information and entertainment
1. Propaganda campaigns attempted to
mobilize entire populations using public
lectures; theatrical productions; musical
compositions; and newspapers, fi lm, and
radio
B. After the war, this mass culture became
institutionalized
1. Nonelites had more time and money to
spend on entertainment
2. Mass culture became synonymous with
national culture
C. Radio
1. During the 1920s, radio broadcasts could
reach the whole nation
a. Programs targeted special
audiences such as women, children, or
the whole family
b. Radio also provided for national
advertising campaigns
c. Politicians used radio for mass
mobilization
i. Benito Mussolini pioneered such
efforts
D. Film and advertising
1. Hollywood emerged as the movie-making
capital of the world
a. Many criticized its fi lms as vulgar and
decadent
b. Politicians used fi lm as well
i. The Nazis employed Leni
Riefenstahl to propagandize their
message
2. Radio and fi lm became big business
a. In the United States, advertising
became a major industry that exploited
these mediums
b. The American entertainment industry
also grew global in its reach
IV. Mass Production and Mass Consumption
A. World War I spurred the development of
mass production techniques to supply huge
quantities of war material
B. The war also reshuffled the world’s economic
balance of power
1. The United States became the world’s
economic powerhouse, producing one-
third of all industrial goods by 1929
2. The United States, with its mass production
and mass consumption (personal income
increased 25 percent in the 1920s), became
the epitome of modernity
C. Mass production of the automobile
1. Henry Ford of the United States pioneered
the mass production of automobiles
a. In the 1920s, his assembly lines
dramatically lowered the cost of an
automobile so that millions could afford
them
216 ◆ Chapter 19 Of Masses and Visions of the Modern, 1910–1939
b. Ford also paid workers twice the
national average, recognizing that mass
production required mass consumption
c. The automobile industry caused the
American economy to roar
i. Four million out of 25 million
workers were connected to the
automobile industry
D. The Great Depression
1. Many people and industries did not fare
well in the new “modern” economy
a. Farmers suffered throughout the 1920s
from declining staple prices
2. The Great Depression began in 1929
a. Its causes went back to the war
i. European nations were left with
huge debt and huge rebuilding
priorities
ii. In the 1920s, Europeans borrowed
from the only available source—
American banks
iii. When many investors defaulted on
their loans toward the end of the
decade, the U.S. Federal Reserve
tightened credit, provoking bank
failures in Europe and eventually
the stock market crash on Wall
Street in October 1929
b. World trade suffered as fi nancial
turmoil spread
i. To protect domestic producers,
governments abandoned free trade
and raised protective tariff barriers
ii. By 1935, world trade was one-third
of its level in 1929
iii. Primary producers in the
nonindustrial world suffered the
most as commodity prices dropped
precipitously
c. The Depression forced many to lose
faith in the idea of unregulated free
markets
i. Many advocated state intervention
to alleviate the crisis
a. John Maynard Keynes, a British
economist, published The
General Theory of Employment,
Interest, and Money that
spawned a revolution in
government economic policy in
many countries in the ensuing
decades
V. Mass Politics: Competing Visions of Becoming
Modern
A. World War I completed the discrediting of
the liberal order—the belief in progress, free
markets, and societies guided by the educated
few—that had begun at the turn of the
twentieth century
1. Everywhere, the masses wanted to share in
the modern world’s prosperity
2. The Great Depression only heightened this
tension
B. Liberal capitalism under pressure
1. In Europe, the war fueled anxieties about
modernization, already underway before
1914
a. The appeal of Josephine Baker and
Oswald Spengler expressed declining
confidence in urban industrial society
2. Many states had experimented with
illiberal policies during the war
a. Germany went as far as instituting “war
socialism”
3. The war also broadened the size and scope
of governments
C. British and French response to economic crisis
1. After the war, many governments tried to
return to previous patterns but the masses
were impatient with free market policies
2. The mobilized public demanded that
governments address their concerns about
jobs, housing, etc.
3. Many people turned to socialism,
communism, or radical right movements to
express their frustrations
4. The Depression forced even the most die-
hard liberals to rethink their ideas
a. Many countries abandoned liberalism
altogether in favor of right-wing
authoritarian rulers
b. Britain and France sustained their
parliamentary systems, but rethought
their liberal ideas
D. The American New Deal
1. Strong labor parties and socialist
movements did not appear in the United
States after World War I
a. Americans elected conservatives to
office who promised to retreat from the
government activism of recent decades
b. While overall economic growth was
spectacular, farmers and African
Americans were left behind
 Chapter 19 Of Masses and Visions of the Modern, 1910–1939 ◆ 217
i. African Americans began
migrating to urban northern cities
during the war; in the 1920s, they
formed a vibrant cultural scene
2. The Great Depression swept away
conservative leadership and led to the
election of Franklin Roosevelt to the
presidency in 1932
a. Roosevelt’s New Deal, while
ideologically vague, enlarged the role
of government in the United States
through regulation and regulatory
agencies, relief measures, public works,
and pension schemes
b. While unemployment remained high
throughout the 1930s, Roosevelt’s
policies restored confidence in
government, and the United States
avoided authoritarian solutions
i. Roosevelt set out to save
capitalism’s essential features, not
destroy them
E. Authoritarianism and mass mobilization
1. All the postwar dictatorships, whether on
the right or the left, claimed they strove to
mobilize the masses to create dynamic yet
orderly societies
a. They treated the masses as an army
that needed to be commanded if the
problems of liberal capitalism were to be
overcome
b. They claimed to protect the people’s
well-being better than liberal regimes
while delivering on the promises of
modernity without enduring its costs—
class divisions, unemployment, etc.
2. The Soviet Union
a. The Bolsheviks survived a bloody civil
war and foreign intervention between
1918 and 1921
i. Grain requisitioning and military
maneuvering created a horrible
famine from 1921 to 1923, in
which 7 to 10 million died
b. After their victory in 1924, the
Bolsheviks enacted the New Economic
Policy that allowed for the reemergence
of trade and private property that they
had confiscated during the war
c. In the latter part of the decade, after
Lenin’s death, Stalin seized control of
the Communist Party
i. Stalin moved aggressively to
build socialism, which the
leadership believed was the road to
communism
ii. They defi ned socialism as the
opposite of capitalism
a. They banned private property,
political parties except theirs,
and markets in favor of
economic planning and full
employment
d. Early efforts to create socialism were
violent
i. In the countryside, collectivization
efforts compelled farmers to join
state-managed cooperatives
a. Many peasants resisted by
burning their crops, killing
their livestock, and destroying
their equipment
b. The regime labeled resisters
“kulaks” or wealthy peasants
and deported them to remote
areas
i. Th is turmoil created another
famine that killed millions
c. Eventually those living on
cooperative farms were allowed
individual plots of land and the
right to sell their individual
harvests at peasant markets
ii. In the cities, the regime launched
a five-year plan to “catch and
overtake” capitalist countries
a. The regime purchased advanced
technology from capitalist
countries
b. The regime built dams,
automobile factories, and heavy
machinery plants
c. Millions moved to these new or
revived industrial centers
iii. At the party level, persecution
accompanied industrialization and
collectivization
a. The regime arrested millions
of party members and others as
class enemies
b. New officials and
administrators were brought in
to run the planned economy
3. Italian fascism
218 ◆ Chapter 19 Of Masses and Visions of the Modern, 1910–1939
a. Peasant and worker unrest gripped Italy
after World War I and many elites feared
a Bolshevik-style revolution
b. Benito Mussolini seized the initiative
and gained power in 1922
i. Mussolini, a former socialist,
organized veterans into a mass
movement he called fascism
a. His early philosophy mixed
nationalism with social
radicalism
i. He demanded territorial
expansion and greater rights
for women, workers, and
peasants
b. After he att racted thousands of
followers, he organized a march
on Rome in 1922 and seized
power
i. King Victor Emmanuel III
refused to send the army
against them
ii. When the government
resigned in protest, he
asked Mussolini to form a
government
iii. Using fraud and
intimidation, fascists won
election in 1924
1) Mussolini than banned
all parties and created a
one-party dictatorship
c. Although he never instituted a sweeping
radical agenda, Mussolini used modern
media to gain support and credibility
and he became a model to others
4. German Nazism
a. Germany, like Italy, seemed on the
verge of revolution after the war
b. Like Mussolini, Adolf Hitler formed a
movement that blended socialist and
nationalist ideas
i. During the 1920s, despite an
attempted coup and a widely read
autobiography, Hitler failed to
att ract much support
ii. The Nazis’ fortunes soared after
the onset of the Great Depression
a. The economic catastrophe led
millions to abandon faith in the
Republic and seek more radical
alternatives
c. Hitler came to power “peacefully” and
legally
i. In 1932, thinking he could control
Hitler and use the Nazis against
the communists and socialists,
President Paul von Hindenburg
appointed him as chancellor
ii. Hitler manipulated fears of
communist conspiracy (and
intimidation) to force parliament
to grant him dictatorial powers
d. The Nazi regime soon won broad
support
i. Rearmament programs absorbed
the unemployed
ii. State direction of the economy,
which remained in private hands,
reduced economic anxieties
a. The state sponsored public
works and organized leisure
activities and vacations for low-
income people
e. Germany reemerged as an international
power
5. Militarist Japan
a. Japan benefited from the war
i. Without European and American
competition, Japan expanded its
Asian trade
a. The economy expanded
tremendously in the 1920s
ii. Postwar Japan initially headed
down the liberal road
a. Mass political parties emerged
b. Suff rage expanded
b. The Great Depression interrupted these
trends
i. Japanese trade plummeted and
unemployment surged
c. The Japanese military increasingly
meddled in the nation’s politics
i. The armed forces were free
of civilian control and used
“patriotic” organizations to
pressure prime ministers to resign,
often through violent intimidation
ii. These organizations professed
loyalty to the emperor and the
nation
iii. In 1931, military officers staged an
explosion on the Japanese-owned
Southern Manchurian Railroad
 Chapter 19 Of Masses and Visions of the Modern, 1910–1939 ◆ 219
and used it as a pretext to conquer
Manchuria, a Chinese province,
and add it to the empire
iv. At home, patriotic organizations
continued to agitate against
opponents of the military and its
expansionist goals
a. They promoted the traditional
Shintō religion, which revered
the state
d. In 1940, political parties were banned
and the military effectively ruled an
authoritarian state
6. Common features
a. Russia, Italy, Germany, and Japan
shared many traits
i. Economically, all believed in
strong state intervention
a. In Japan, the state fostered the
growth of the zaibatsu
ii. All employed mass organizations
for state purposes
a. All sought to rally youth
through organizations such
as the Hitler Youth and Soviet
Communist Youth League
iii. All but Japan adopted large-scale
social welfare policies
iv. All were ambivalent about women
in public roles
a. They urged women to stay at
home and produce healthy
offspring
b. Women had greater access to
professional careers, partly out
of necessity because of the rise
in the number of single women
stemming from World War I
v. All used terror and violence against
their citizens, colonial subjects,
or “foreigners” living under their
regime
a. The Nazis singled out Jews
vi. Despite their brutality, during the
1930s, these regimes att racted
many admirers and would-be
imitators in other countries
F. The hybrid nature of Latin American
corporatism
1. Latin American countries avoided fighting
in the war, but economic disruptions
caused their exports to plummet
a. Radical agitation emerged at home and
oligarchic political regimes fell
2. The Depression hammered Latin America’s
trade and fi nancial system
3. Latin American governments responded
by creating regimes that blended aspects of
authoritarianism and democracy
a. The state sponsored economic strategies
that looked to the domestic market, not
foreign buyers, as an engine of growth
b. Elites formed mass parties that
organized workers, peasants, and ethnic
minorities under the tutelage of the
state
c. These “corporatist” states used social
and occupational groups to bridge elites
and the rank and fi le
4. In Brazil, Getúlio Vargas created a strong
following which he rode to power in the
1930s
a. He created social welfare programs and
sponsored public works
b. He encouraged blacks to organize
i. His regime supported samba
schools (organizations that taught
the popular dance and raised
money for public works)
c. He also squelched political rivals
and dissent, banning political
parties in 1937 and creating national
representation along corporatist lines
i. While individuals lost political
rights, excluded groups such as
unions gained more political power
d. He used “modern” propaganda
campaigns to extend his support
G. Anticolonial visions of modern life
1. The war reshuffled European empires
a. France and Britain acquired Arab
lands from the Ottoman empire and
Germany’s colonies in Africa
b. In 1926, Britain rechristened its empire
the “Commonwealth” and granted
white sett ler colonies “dominion”
status—independence in return for
loyalty to the crown
i. Nonwhites were deemed not yet
ready for self-government
2. After the war, anticolonialism emerged as
the path to modernity in Asia and Africa
a. Various nationalist movements emerged
or gained stronger support
220 ◆ Chapter 19 Of Masses and Visions of the Modern, 1910–1939
b. The nationalist movements often
disagreed on how nations should
be governed once they gained
independence and how citizenship
should be defi ned
i. The competing visions of
democracy and radical
authoritarianism appealed to
different leaders and groups
ii. Most often looked to indigenous
religious and cultural traditions for
inspiration
c. Anticolonialism differed depending
on whether the area had been formally
colonized, for how long, or how
threatened it was by colonization
3. African stirrings
a. Anticolonial nationalist movements
got under way after the war, later than
in areas colonized for longer periods of
time
b. With some minor exceptions, Africans
were excluded from representation in
imperial governments
c. As a result, many Africans began to
experiment with various forms of
protest
i. In southeastern Nigeria, Ibo and
Ibibio women protested taxes
by refusing to deal with local
chiefs and by boycott ing foreign
merchants
ii. Many of these protests resembled
modern political strategies in
Europe
4. Imagining an Indian nation
a. Opposition in India to British rule was
more advanced than in Africa
b. After the war, the British expanded the
franchise and granted more power to
Indians in local government
c. During the 1920s and 1930s,
Mohandas Gandhi transformed the
Indian National Congress Party into
a mass party and an anticolonial
movement
i. Gandhi was Western-educated
ii. He developed a philosophy
of satyagraha, or nonviolent
resistance, that he employed
against the British while living in
South Africa
d. In 1919, the British massacred hundreds
of Indians protesting policies at
Amritsar
i. Gandhi and others called for non-
cooperation and boycotts
ii. He began to turn the Indian
National Congress away from an
elite institution by opening it to
anyone who could pay dues
e. In 1930, Gandhi organized an act of
civil disobedience over the government
monopoly of salt
i. He and supporters marched to the
sea to gather salt for free
ii. Journalists covered the march
extensively
f. Gandhi’s efforts inspired many other
acts of noncooperation and nonviolent
protest
i. He urged people to spin, make their
own cotton textiles, and boycott
British-manufactured cloth
g. Not all in the Congress Party or in other
anticolonial organizations shared his
views
i. Although he supported Gandhi,
Jawaharlal Nehru, a National
Congress leader, wanted India to
become a powerful nation-state by
embracing science and technology
ii. Radical activists wanted
revolution, not peaceful protests
iii. Muslims did not believe that the
National Congress Party squarely
guaranteed their rights
iv. Hindu nationalist movements such
as Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
(RSS) campaigned to organize
Hindus as a militant modern
community and spewed hatred
against Muslims
v. Women demanded suff rage
and other political rights that
the National Congress did not
embrace
h. Still, by 1937, the Indian National
Congress had mobilized the masses
onto the stage in order to overthrow
British rule
i. Indians saw themselves as different
from the West, even if they disagreed
with what their new nation would be.
 Chapter 19 Of Masses and Visions of the Modern, 1910–1939 ◆ 221
5. Chinese nationalism
a. China was not formally colonized but
its sovereignty was compromised
i. Chinese nationalists thus
identified ridding the nation
of foreign domination as their
number one priority
b. The fall of the Qing dynasty in 1911
led to high hopes among nationalists
that a new modern nation would
emerge
i. Quickly, the new Chinese
government disintegrated as
military men competed for power
c. In 1919, the May Fourth Movement
blossomed in urban areas to protest
the Paris Peace Conference’s award
of Germany’s concession rights in
Shandong to Japan
d. The beneficiaries of this emerging
nationalism were the Guomindang,
founded by Sun Yat-sen
i. Looking to the Russian Revolution
as an example, Sun allowed
Chinese Communists to join the
Guomindang
ii. The Guomindang also began to
organize workers’ unions, peasants,
and women’s associations
e. After Sun’s death in 1925, leadership of
the Guomindang passed to Chiang Kai-
shek
i. Chiang launched a military
campaign to unify the country
under Guomindang leadership
ii. His efforts were a partial success,
and he formed a national
government in Nanjing
iii. In 1927, he broke with the
Communists
f. Chiang attempted to mobilize the
Chinese masses behind his efforts into
the 1930s
i. The New Life Movement, launched
in 1934, attempted to instill
discipline and moral purpose in
the citizenry
6. Peasant populism in China: White
Wolf
a. Guomindang leadership viewed the
peasantry as backward and bereft of
revolutionary potential
b. Nevertheless, a peasant movement
emerged in 1913–1914 that challenged
the existing order
i. The White Wolf movement had
more than 20,000 members and
devoted itself to raiding trade
routes and market towns in order
to rob from the rich and aid the
poor
ii. The White Wolf movement gained
its greatest support in rural areas
where peasants were experiencing
the disruption of new market
forces
c. The Guomindang never bridged the
differences between the urban-based
movement and peasants, something
Communists would take advantage of
later
7. Postimperial Turkish nation
a. The Treaty of Sèvres reduced the
Ottoman Empire to a part of Anatolia,
and survival of this truncated state was
uncertain
b. Mustafa Kemal and other army
officers organized resistance to this
outcome
i. In 1920, they reconquered most
of Anatolia and the European
territory surrounding Istanbul
ii. European powers agreed to
renegotiate the Treaty of Sèvres
iii. The new Peace of Lausanne
abrogated reparations in return
for the Turks relinquishing claims
to Arab lands and several Aegean
islands
a. A massive transfer of Greek and
Turkish nationals then took
place between each country
c. Kemal, who took on the name
Ataturk—father of the nation—went on
to proclaim a republic and set the nation
on a crash course to modernization
i. He aimed to create a European-
style secular state
ii. He also borrowed several
antiliberal models such as state
economic planning and the use
of radical racial theories to foster
Turkish economic development
and identity with the state
222 ◆ Chapter 19 Of Masses and Visions of the Modern, 1910–1939
8. The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt
a. Elsewhere in the Middle East,
anticolonial movements emerged
i. In Egypt, after the war ended, Sa’d
Zaghlul pressed for an Egyptian
delegation to the Paris Peace
Conference
a. He hoped to present a case for
Egyptian independence
b. British officials arrested him
and exiled him to Malta
c. The country quickly burst into
revolt
ii. In 1922, Britain proclaimed
Egypt’s independence but retained
many rights, such as the right to
station British troops on Egyptian
soil and to use these troops in order
to protect foreign residents and the
Suez Canal
iii. In 1924, the British refused to let
the Wafd, Zaghlul’s political party,
come to power
iv. Anticolonialism in Egypt soon
turned antiliberal
a. During the Depression, a fascist
group called Young Egypt had
wide appeal
b. The Muslim Brotherhood,
established in 1928, attacked
liberal democracy as a facade
for middle-class, business, and
landowning interests
i. They wanted more than
independence, urging the
people to return to a purified
form of Islam
VI. Conclusion
A. The Great War and its aftermath accelerated
the trend toward mass society while shaking
confidence in modernization
B. Competing visions of modernity—liberal,
authoritarian, and anticolonial—emerged after
the war
C. Authoritarianism seemed best positioned to
satisfy the masses during the Great Depression
D. Most anticolonial movements also viewed
liberalism as discredited and looked to
socialism and fascism for models
E. While the rise of authoritarian regimes
combined with the Great Depression
generated intense dislocation, the worst days
of modernity were about to come with the
outbreak of World War II
LECTURE IDEAS
Keynesian Economics and the United States
Robert Skidelsky’s John Maynard Keynes: A Biography
(1983) is a quick and useful read that provides the relevant
material for a lecture on this most influential economist of
the twentieth century. The lecture can emphasize the ori-
gins of Keynes’ views on government intervention in the
economy in light of the Great Depression, his contribu-
tion to the modern academic discipline of economics, and
his influence on the post–World War II era.
The Influenza Pandemic of 1918
Instead of a lecture on the batt lefield carnage of World War
I, you could instead focus on the extraordinary casualties
associated with the influenza pandemic of 1918 near the
end and after the war. The spread of this virus helps bring
home to students the consequences of global integration
begun with the technology associated with the industrial
revolution and furthered by the growth of empires. Global
integration thus had the potential to magnify disruption
in one area on the entire globe, a lesson dramatically dem-
onstrated by the Great War. For more information see
Alfred W. Crosby’s America’s Forgotten Pandemic: The In-
fluenza of 1918 (1990). The Public Broadcasting System’s
documentary series The American Experience has a com-
panion episode, “Influenza 1918.” Its Web site is:
www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/influenza/index.html
Armenian Genocide
An overview of the Armenian genocide perpetrated by
the Ottoman government during World War I helps intro-
duce the downside of the mass culture ushered in by the
Great War. The Armenian genocide was one consequence
of modernism in the Middle East. Leaders of the Ottoman
Empire, or the Young Turks, predating Mustafa Kemal
Ataturk, already intended to develop a modern Turkish
national identity before and during World War I. One
legacy was their decision to eliminate the Armenian pres-
ence in the Turkish heartland of Anatolia. Their decisions,
and the rest of the world’s indifference encouraged Adolf
Hitler’s war against the Jews. For more information see
Vahakn N. Dadrian, The History of the Armenian Genocide:
Ethnic Conflict from the Balkans to Anatolia to the Cauca-
 Chapter 19 Of Masses and Visions of the Modern, 1910–1939 ◆ 223
sus (1995). There are numerous resources at the Armenian
National Institute’s Web site:
www.armenian-genocide.org/index.htm
Economic Relief Strategies of
Roosevelt, Hitler, and Stalin
A lecture comparing the economic and political strate-
gies of Franklin Roosevelt, Adolf Hitler, and Joseph Stalin
during the 1930s reveals many broad similarities and says
much about world history during the Great Depression.
All three turned to greater state intervention, or total
intervention in the case of Stalin, to achieve economic
growth. All three also expanded the role of the state in so-
cial welfare services. And each exploited new mass com-
munication technology to further his political goals and
ambitions. For further information see John A. Garraty,
“Roosevelt and Hitler: New Deal and Nazi Reactions to
the Depression,” in Carl J. Guarneri, America Compared:
American History in International Perspective, Vol. II
(1997); Charles P. Kindleberger, The World in Depression,
1929–1939 (1973); W. Arthur Lewis, Economic Survey,
1919–1939 (1978).
Modernizing Leaders
A lecture comparing Getúlio Vargas, Mustafa Kemal
Ataturk, and Sun Yat-sen would make a nice contrast to
the one above. Each represented a peripheral area to the
European-centered world. And each tried to refashion an
ideology, system of government, and economic strategy
to recreate a more equitable position for his nation vis-à-
vis the rest of the world. In the process all three had to ad-
dress the question of national identity in the modern age.
For information see Robert M. Levine, Father of the Poor:
Vargas and His Era (1998); Bernard Lewis, The Emergence
of Modern Turkey (1968); and Lucien Bianco, Origins of
the Chinese Revolution, 1915–1949 (1971).
The New Woman
Great social changes occurred during the interwar period
around the world. The tremendous loss of life from World
War I (dubbed by Gertrude Stein the “Lost Generation”
in Europe) and the global economic roller coaster (from
great success to global depression) made this brief period
in history one of the most frightening and stimulating
times to be alive. A lecture on the global development of
the New Woman is a good way for students to begin to
see how women were living out newly gained rights, the
backlash from older generations, and its effect on the fu-
ture. The special issue of the NWSA Journal, Gender and
Modernism Between the Wars, 1918–1939 (vol. 15, no. 3) is
devoted to the emergence of the New Woman around the
world. See also The New Woman in Fiction and Fact: Fin-
de-Siècle Feminism, edited by Angelique Richardson and
Chris Willis (2002).
The Search for Better Political Solutions
The crash of the American stock market and subsequent
global economic failures forced people to rethink those
economic and political structures that had seemed to be
so foolproof. Viable political systems came into question;
the world was “up for grabs.” Some of America’s leading
politicians, businessmen, theologians, and even enter-
tainers began seriously to explore new alliances and new
goals that ranged from antiwar to anti-Semitic rhetoric.
They traveled to the Soviet Union and Germany, meeting
with Soviet leaders and German leaders, including Hitler.
Th is kind of exploration comes as a surprise to students
and by gett ing them off balance piques their curiosity and
allows you to retain their interest. Form a lecture around
the American leaders who were looking for “better” al-
ternatives, such as Henry Ford, Charles Lindbergh, Paul
Robeson, and many Christian peace advocates. Many of
them had the power and wealth to manipulate the coun-
try behind the scenes and they tried just that. The antiwar
organization the America First Committee was formed at
this time:
libraryautomation.com/nymas/americafi rst.html
Their machinations were powerful and convoluted.
Outlining their engagement with America’s later enemies
allows you to draw in other history of the time, including
the fi rst Red Scare.
CLASS ACTIVITIES
The Great War
Th is activity is a good way to begin your section on World
War I because it sets the stage for how monumental this
war was, not just in the physical changes it wrought, but
also in how it changed people’s views of the future. Use
the BBC’s Web site The Great War: 80 Years On:
news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/special_report/1998/10/98/
world_war_i/197437.stm
Click on “Images and Newsreels” to show students a
spectacular video montage of scenes from the batt lefields
of the Western Front during World War I. If you have ac-
cess to The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century
series, show a fi fteen-minute clip without the sound, since
224 ◆ Chapter 19 Of Masses and Visions of the Modern, 1910–1939
the documentary discussion will be too specific for your
particular goal (adding music would be useful), will ac-
complish the same thing and will give you better image
quality. Showing either one to students sets the mood for a
discussion on the war’s devastation and why, for so many,
it represented the end of an era. Before you start the video
tell them to fi nd one thing/image in the fi lm that they have
a question about, don’t understand, or would like to know
more about. Th is empowers them to explore the war in
directions that interest them and will engage them more
fully when you lecture on other aspects of the war. There
are a number of images that they might not understand:
the line of men walking with their eyes covered, scenes of
vast wasteland, why there are horses when there are also
tanks. There are also scenes where they may want more in-
formation. Once they have seen either video, let them ask
questions about those things they noted. Spend the rest
of the class discussing them. If you have access to actual
memorabilia from the war, this is the time to bring it out:
war medals, gas masks, or eating utensils would be useful.
Negotiating the End of World War I
Academics and pundits have roundly criticized the Treaty
of Versailles and the peace sett lement after World War I.
But having students try and negotiate the treaty them-
selves allows them to see how difficult a task the victors
faced. Divide students into three groups to represent the
United States, France, and Great Britain. Students should
research what their goals are beforehand. Then have them
debate. Let each side present its initiatives and have the
other two vote up or down on the proposal. A simple ma-
jority rules. Remember to stress that the students assume
the positions of their delegation in 1918. When and if they
are unable to come up with something dramatically dif-
ferent from the treaty, ask them to analyze why not. If they
do come up with a radically different treaty ask them to
analyze why they succeeded where their real counterparts
failed.
Manifestos and the Growth of Fascism
One way for students to understand the mounting ten-
sion in the Western world is through an exploration of the
changes in the art world and the growth of manifestos by
artists up through World War I. Some scholars have sug-
gested that the growth of fascism was supported, in part,
by the violent and aggressive manifesto written by the Ital-
ian futurists. The futurists, dadaists, surrealists, and vor-
ticists all were very political and were actively involved in
trying to shape their societies through their art and their
actions. Start by defi ning the word manifesto. Then break
your students into four or more groups and provide each
of them with a copy of one of the manifestos (they are eas-
ily accessible on the Internet). It might also be useful to
provide some of the group’s paintings or poetry. Let the
groups read the manifestos, and then using their under-
standing of the historical context, discuss what they have
read. How might documents such as these have influ-
enced the political climate? How are the groups’ political
positions represented in their art? What kind of influence
do students think such groups might have had? After ev-
eryone comes back together, have each group present its
manifesto. You can help to fi ll in the historical pieces and
provide some of the art for the entire class to see. It would
be interesting to ask students what might have driven
these young people, many of them college age, to feel as
they did. Can students fi nd parallels in today’s society
that might make people feel this desperate? Do they know
of any cultures or groups doing anything similar? Mani-
festos and politically active and revolutionary artists are
on the rise. Take your students to this site:
www.stuckism.com
and look at the manifesto for stuckists, to show them some
parallels.
The Summer Olympics of 1936
As an opening into the power of boycotts, sanctions, and
other political actions of nation-states, a discussion of the
1936 summer Olympics could be useful. It would allow
you to draw in information on the level of authoritarian-
ism in Nazi Germany. You could show clips from Leni
Riefenstahl’s propaganda fi lm Olympia which could lead
to a discussion of the use of propaganda. For this activ-
ity, however, break your students into groups and provide
them with a handout that lists the factors that the various
countries’ Olympic committees considered when decid-
ing whether to attend or boycott the games. The students
need to analyze the information, weigh the pros and cons,
and then decide for themselves, if they had been the com-
mittee, what they would have done. The Jewish Virtual
Library provides most of the details necessary for creating
a handout:
www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Holocaust/
olympics.html
at “Deciding to Boycott .” Once the groups have made a
decision, the class can discuss their outcomes. Show them
what really did happen: who attended, why they decided
to attend, who boycotted. A fi lm clip of Jesse Owens win-
 Chapter 19 Of Masses and Visions of the Modern, 1910–1939 ◆ 225
ning the gold medal would be an appropriate ending to
the class.
The Rise of Propaganda
Using the Web sites for propaganda posters and art listed
below, provide your students with a selection of posters
from different countries. You can have students work on
this project either in groups or as a class. Have them look
at the characteristics in the posters and list the imagery
that they see repeated in the posters from a given country.
For example, in Soviet propaganda posters help them see
the chiseled facial features. The human figures are usu-
ally in the foreground. Have students look at the clothes
and the backgrounds. Once they have made a list for the
countries you have chosen—for example, Germany, the
United States, China, Japan, and the Soviet Union—ask
them to compare posters across countries. Is imagery
consistent across the nations? What kind? What is differ-
ent? Th is allows you to open the discussion to why certain
imagery is popular. Why is some imagery popular in one
area and not in another? Why were posters the medium
of choice at the time? What other media might have been
used? The following Web sites will be useful in sett ing up
this activity:
www.stanford.edu/~gfreiden/gallery/propart/
propart.htm
www.zitantique.com/woodblock.html
www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa
www.world-war-pictures.com/
RECOMMENDED FILMS
■ All Quiet on the Western Front (1930, 130 min.). This
black-and-white fi lm was based on the antiwar novel by
Erich Maria Remarque. Filmed in German, it was quickly
banned in Germany because of its strong antiwar and
anti-Nazi messages. The fi lm graphically reminded people
of the horror of war, and it won numerous awards from the
international fi lm industry. It is still considered an impor-
tant representation of the unique aspects of World War I
and the horrors of any war.
■ The Battleship Potemkin (1925, 74 min.). The Soviet
Union commissioned this black-and-white fi lm on the
twentieth anniversary of the sailors’ revolt on the batt le-
ship Potemkin in 1905. The director Sergei Eisenstein
successfully recreates what litt le is known about the mu-
tiny, which started over spoiled meat. Although the revolt
ended in failure with the sailors surrendering to the Ro-
manian government, they and their deeds remained sym-
bols for the Russian Revolution. The Soviets used the fi lm
to promote and support their ideologies.
■ The Crash of 1929 (1988, 60 min.). This documentary
is part of the PBS American Experience series. It explains
how and why the New York Stock Exchange crashed,
what this meant to Americans, and the aftermath of the
crash. Much attention is given to Americans’ belief that
the United States’ economy would never stop and that
everyone would participate in the American dream. PBS
provides a partner Web site with teaching tools at:
www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/crash/
■ Don’t Cry Nanking (1995, 110 min.). This movie re-cre-
ates the events that occurred during the Rape of Nanking
in 1937 by focusing on the story of a family with a Chi-
nese father and a Japanese mother. It allows you to discuss
the Safety Zone in Nanking, which was established at the
suggestion of the Europeans who were still there. In the
Safety Zone, the Red Cross, missionaries, and other aid
organizations were able to shelter at least some of the Chi-
nese civilians. Th is is a powerful fi lm and depicts the Japa-
nese occupation as accurately as possible.
■ The Great War and the Shaping of the 20th Century
(1994, 480 min.). Th is eight-part series on World War I is
unrivaled in its breadth and format. It is set up so that it
is immensely supportive for teaching. The voices reading
primary-source letters and diaries add an extra dimen-
sion. The footage is grim but not overly so. One aspect of
this series is its unique blend of social, political, and war
history. All aspects of life are merged into the series, from
mental illness to the technology of weapons. In the third
hour, the series offers litt le known stories about the contri-
butions of soldiers from European colonies such as India,
West Africa, and Australia. The section on trench warfare
is exceptional, as are those on shell shock and the role of
women. PBS provides an accompanying Web site:
www.pbs.org/greatwar/chapters/index.html
The teaching manuals are also very useful.
■ Metropolis (1924, 110 min.). This black-and-white, si-
lent fi lm by Fritz Lang expressed much of the angst felt
at the time and reflected in expressionist art. The sets are
in art deco and modern style. The movie focuses on the
power and dehumanization of industry as well as capital-
ism versus communism and the growing trend toward
fascism. It is a remarkable fi lm in a genre to which many
students have never been exposed; this alone makes it
worth showing.
226 ◆ Chapter 19 Of Masses and Visions of the Modern, 1910–1939
■ Noirs et Blancs en Couleurs (Black and White in Color)
(1976, 90 min.). Th is feature fi lm highlights a number of
themes from late African colonialism to World War I. Set
during 1914, the fi lm opens on a scene with French mer-
chants, priests, and officials, and the Africans they rule.
World War I has spawned a parallel war across the colo-
nies’ borders. The French colony and the Africans they
rule prepare to go to war with the neighboring German
colony and Africans. Later, British troops arrive to es-
tablish their own control—a mix of Indian and African
troops, with a West Indian spokesman. Th roughout the
preparations the people are aware of the ludicrousness of
fighting because of a war in a faraway place. The fi lm man-
ages to convey the humanity and absurdity of the colonial
situation. The fi lm is set on the border of French Chad
(French Equatorial Africa) and German Kamerun, one
of the few places on the continent where word of the war
did not arrive until after the war began in August 1914.
The fi lm won the 1976 Academy Award for best foreign-
language fi lm.
■ Raices de Mi Corazon (Roots of My Heart) (2006, 50
min.). Gloria Rolando’s documentary deals with the 1912
massacre of more than six thousand members of a Cuban
black political party known as the Independents of Color,
all of whom were veterans of the Cuban Wars of Inde-
pendence. In the fi lm, Mercedes, a woman from Havana,
begins to decipher her family secrets though the photo of
her great-grandparents, Maria Victoria and José Julián.
Between reality and the world of dreams, she learns about
the ties this couple had with the Independents of Color,
formed in 1908. The Independents of Color was the fi rst
black political party in the hemisphere outside Haiti and
was largely formed of veterans from the Mambi Army, the
Cuban Army of Liberation that defeated the Spanish in
two wars of liberation (1868–1878 and 1895–1898). But
their struggle to fi nd a voice in Cuban society resulted in
the massacre of 1912.
■ Triumph des Willens (Triumph of the Will) (1935, 114
min.). Leni Riefenstahl’s 1935 propaganda fi lm is a must-
see if you spend time discussing Nazi propaganda. Filmed
primarily at the Nazi Party Congress at Nuremberg in
1934, it is a spectacle on a grand scale. Brief clips of al-
most any portion show how nationalist fervor can be rep-
resented and perpetuated through fi lm.
RECOMMENDED READING
Lucien Bianco, 1971. Origins of the Chinese Revolution,
1915–1949.
Donald Bloxham, 2005. The Great Game of Genocide:
Imperialism, Nationalism, and the Destruction of the
Ottoman Armenians.
Vera Brittain, 1933. Testament of Youth.
William Brock, 1988. Welfare, Democracy, and the New
Deal.
Mark Broszat, 1981. The Hitler State: The Foundations and
Development of the International Structure of the Third
Reich.
Judith M. Brown, 1990. Gandhi: Prisoner of Hope.
E. Bradford Burns, 1993. A History of Brazil, 3rd ed.
Iris Chang, 1998. The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten
Holocaust of World War II.
Sheila Fitzpatrick, 1984. The Russian Revolution, 1917–
1932.
Daikichi Irokawa, 1995. The Age of Hirohito: In Search of
Modern Japan.
John Keegan, 1999. The First World War.
Charles Kindleberger, 1973. The World in Depression,
1929–1939.
Bernard Lewis, 1968. The Emergence of Modern Turkey.
Stanley Payne, 1995. A History of Fascism: 1914–1945.
Andrew D. Roberts, ed., 1986. The Cambridge History of
Africa, vol. 7: From 1905 to 1940.
Barbara W. Tuchman, 1962. The Guns of August.
Joshua Zeitz, 2006. Flapper: A Madcap Story of Sex,
Style, Celebrity, and the Women Who Made America
Modern.
WEB SITES
Ad* Access
Advertising images from 1911 to 1955
lib.duke.edu/digitalcollections/adaccess/
America from the Great Depression to World War II:
Photographs from the FSA-OWI, 1935–1945
Primary-source images in black and white and color
memory.loc.gov/ammen/fsowhome.html
An American in China: A Memoir, 1936–1939
www.willysthomas.net/
Chinese Cultural Revolution Wood Block Prints
Images and excellent descriptions of propaganda posters
ranging from 1920s to 1960s
www.zitantique.com/woodblock.html
The Eternal Jew
Information about anti-Semitism and the fi lm Der Ewige
Jude
www.holocaust-info.dk/shm/uk.htm
 Chapter 19 Of Masses and Visions of the Modern, 1910–1939 ◆ 227
Examples of Stalinist Posters and Political Art
Propaganda posters and socialist realist art
www.stanford.edu/~gfreidin/gallery/propart/
propart.htm
First World War Poetry Digital Archive
Audio fi les of World War I poetry
www.ww1lit.com
The Great War and the Shaping of the Twentieth Century
Excellent site with multiple media options and teaching
tools
www.pbs.org/greatwar/
Mahatma Ghandi Research and Media Service
The most complete source for research and information
on Ghandi
www.ghandiserve.org/
Nazi and East German Propaganda Archive
Multiple propaganda resources both textual and visual
www.calvin.edu/academic/cas/gpa/
Historical Atlas of the Twentieth Century
users.erols.com/mwhite28/20centry.htm
In Flanders Fields Museum
Very detailed site
www.inflandersfields.be/english/
The Life of Henry Ford
Biographical information
www.hfmgv.org/exhibits/hf/
New Deal Network: Image Gallery
Very detailed site
newdeal.feri.org/library/index.htm
Old Time Radio: The Golden Years
Lists programs and audio clips of radio through the
1950s
htt p://www.old-time.com/golden_age/index.html
Revolution by Design: The Soviet Poster
Soviet propaganda posters
www.internationalposter.com/country-primers/
soviet-posters.aspx
World War Posters, Photos, Poets, Artists
www.world-war-pictures.com
World War I Songs and Patriotic Music
Includes lyrics, dates, and recordings
www.halcyondaysmusic.com.ww1music.htm
CH A PTER 20

The Three-World Order,

1940–1975

▶ Competing Blocs ▶ Th ree Worlds

▶ World War II and Its Aftermath The First World
The War in Europe Western Europe
The Pacific Front The United States
▶ The Beginning of the Cold War The Japanese “Miracle”
Rebuilding Europe The Second World
The Nuclear Age The Appeal of the Soviet Model
▶ Decolonization Repression of Dissent
The Chinese Revolution The Th ird World
Negotiated Independence in India and Africa Limits to Autonomy
India Th ird World Revolutionaries and Radicals
Africa for Africans ▶ Tensions in the Th ree-World Order
Violent and Incomplete Decolonizations Tensions in the First World
Palestine, Israel, Egypt Tensions in World Communism
The Algerian War for Independence Tensions in the Th ird World
Eastern and Southern Africa
Vietnam

LECTURE OUTLINE
The Second World War destroyed the European-centered
world that had emerged in the nineteenth century. In
place of European world leadership and European em-
pires emerged a three-world order. The United States and
Soviet Union headed the First World and Second World
respectively. Each believed that its ideology—liberal capi-
talism and communism—had universal application. Soon
after World War II, these two camps became engaged in a
“cold war” to expand and counter each other’s global in-
fluence. The Th ird World consisted of formerly colonized
and semi-colonized people caught in between the two
superpowers and their rival ideological blocs. While able
to sweep away foreign rule, they were unable to overcome
deep-rooted problems of poverty and underdevelopment.
Moreover, Th ird World nations often became the staging
ground for cold war confl icts. By the 1960s and 1970s,
stresses appeared in this three-world order. Unrest and
discontent boiled to the surface in all three worlds in dif-
ferent forms. New sources of power, be they multinational
corporations, nongovernmental organizations, oil-rich
states, or the shift ing balance of economic wealth between
or within each world, posed new problems and rethinking
about current configurations.
I. Competing Blocs
A. The breakup of Europe’s empires and the
demise of European world leadership led to the
division of the world into three blocs
B. The United States and Soviet Union—
superpowers
1. Both believed their respective ideologies
had universal application
a. United States—liberal capitalism
b. Soviet Union—Communism
2. Size
3. Possession of atomic weapons

228
 Chapter 20 The Three-World Order, 1940–1975 ◆ 229
4. Each embodied a model of civilization that
could be applied globally
C. Th ird World countries fought internal wars
over the legacy of colonialism
D. Internal and external produced tensions and
confl icts that challenged the three-world
order
II. World War II and Its Aftermath
A. By the late 1930s, German and Japanese
ambitions to expand and to become, like
Britain, France, and the United States,
colonial powers brought these conservative
dictatorships into confl ict with France, Britain,
the Soviet Union, and eventually the United
States
1. World War II was more global in scope and
in context than World War I
2. Distinctions between citizens and soldiers
were further eroded
3. The acts of barbarism robbed Europe of any
lingering claims to cultural superiority
a. In the war’s wake, anticolonial
movements successfully pressed their
claims for national self-determination
B. The war in Europe
1. The war began with Hitler’s invasion of
Poland in September 1939 and Britain and
France’s decision to oppose it militarily
a. Within two years, Germany and Italy
controlled virtually all of western
Europe
i. The German tactic of blitzkrieg, or
lightning war, proved decisive
ii. Britain escaped conquest, but
German planes waged aerial war
on British cities
b. In June 1941, the Germans invaded and
nearly conquered the Soviet Union
2. Nazi occupation brought terror and
displacement to Europe
a. The war required more laborers; with
men off fighting, women became highly
sought after for the workforce
b. 12 million foreign laborers were brought
to Germany for war production goals
3. The German offensive halted in the
Soviet Union with defeat in the Batt le of
Stalingrad in 1942
a. For the next two years, the Red Army
slowly forced German troops from
Eastern Europe
b. British and American troops batt led
German forces in the air and on the seas
and in northern Africa
c. Allied Forces fi nally opened up a second
front in Western Europe with the
successful D-Day invasion of June 1944
d. In May 1945, Germany surrendered
unconditionally
4. The war in Europe had devastating human
and material costs
a. The Soviets lost up to 20 million people,
both military and civilian
b. Aerial bombings in German and British
cities brought unprecedented hardships
c. Two-thirds of Europe’s Jews were
killed systematically in German “death
camps”
d. Nazis killed or imprisoned gypsies,
homosexuals, Communists, and Slavs
C. The Pacific Front
1. Th roughout the 1930s, Japan had expanded
its influence in Asia
a. In 1931, it conquered Manchuria
b. In 1937, it invaded and conquered much
of coastal China
i. During this war, Japanese troops
infl icted terror on the Chinese
population, the most notorious
example being the “Rape of
Nanjing”
c. German occupation of Western
European countries in 1940 left their
colonies in Southeast Asia at the mercy
of Japanese forces
d. The United States became the chief
obstacle to Japanese expansion and, as a
result, Japan launched an attack on the
American Pacific fleet at Pearl Harbor
in December 1941 in hopes of a surprise
knockout blow
i. The strategy backfi red and the
United States quickly mobilized
for total war
ii. Germany and Italy also declared
war on the United States in light of
their Tripartite Pact with Japan
e. In 1942, Japan seized the British-ruled
Southeast Asian colonies of Singapore,
Malaya, Burma, etc.
i. Japan dubbed its new empire the
Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity
Sphere
230 ◆ Chapter 20 The Three-World Order, 1940–1975
ii. The Japanese exploited these areas
despite their calls of “Asia for
Asians”
a. Millions were drafted for labor
b. Two hundred thousand mainly
Korean “comfort women” were
forced to serve as prostitutes for
the Japanese army
f. American mobilization tilted the
balance of power in the Pacific against
Japan by 1943
i. In August 1945, President
Harry Truman, in the hope of
saving the American army the
monumental task of invading
Japan proper, authorized the use of
atomic weapons to force Japan to
surrender
a. Japan surrendered a few days
after two bombs destroyed
the cities of Hiroshima and
Nagasaki
b. The bombs left environmental
devastation by polluting air,
land, and groundwater
III. The Beginning of the Cold War
A. The Second World War left Europe in ruins
1. Physically the continent was a wreck,
and psychologically, old regimes had lost
credibility
2. Socialism and Soviet-style Communism
att racted wide support
B. Rebuilding Europe
1. The principal Allies in the fight against
Hitler—the Soviet Union, the United
States, and Great Britain—distrusted each
other and disputed how to address Europe’s
postwar recovery
2. The United States decided to “contain”
Soviet influence where it already existed in
Eastern Europe thus initiating a “cold war”
between the former allies
a. Th is policy contributed to the division
of Germany into mutually hostile states
loyal to opposing sides in the cold war
after the Berlin Airlift of 1948–1949
b. To shore up democratic governments
and capitalist economies in Western
Europe, President Truman announced
the Truman Doctrine and the Marshall
Plan in 1947, which promised massive
economic and military aid
c. These efforts culminated in the
formation of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) in 1949; a
military alliance between Western
Europe and North America against the
Soviet Union
3. To Stalin, containment looked like a direct
threat
a. Stalin believed the Soviet Union
deserved to be dominant in Eastern
Europe in order to protect its postwar
security
b. The Soviet Union responded to the
Western Alliance with a military
alliance—the Warsaw Pact—between
itself and the nations it dominated after
the war in Eastern Europe in 1955
C. The nuclear age
1. The arms race led to stockpiling of nuclear
weapons and multiple delivery systems on
both sides
a. These armories, however, prevented
all-out direct war between the two
antagonists
2. Open confrontation emerged in Asia,
where there were no well-defi ned Soviet
and American spheres, such as existed in
Europe, after the Second World War
a. The Korean War embroiled American,
North Korean, South Korean, and
Chinese troops in a contest to control
the Korean peninsula between 1950 and
1953
i. Th is confl ict energized America’s
anti-Communist agenda and led to
new alliances
b. In 1951, the United States signed a
peace treaty with Japan, whereby the
United States committed itself to
defending Japan in case of invasion,
stationed troops and ships there
on a permanent basis, and initiated
large-scale fi nancial aid to rebuild the
economy
IV. Decolonization
A. After the war, anticolonial leaders set about
dismantling the European order using the
lessons of mass politicization and mass
 Chapter 20 The Three-World Order, 1940–1975 ◆ 231
mobilization that had developed in the 1920s
and 1930s
1. The process of decolonization and nation-
building that followed exhibited three
patterns
a. Civil war such as in China
b. Negotiated independence in India and
much of Africa
c. Incomplete decolonization where
large numbers of European sett lers
complicated the process
B. The Chinese Revolution
1. After the war, the Communist Party vowed
to achieve full political and economic
independence for China
2. The Communist Party had gained
momentum over two decades
a. In 1927, Chiang Kai-shek and
the Nationalist regime drove the
Communists into the mountains
b. Soon Mao Zedong took over the
leadership of the party
i. In 1934, under attack from the
Nationalists, they embarked on a
6,000-mile “Long March” to the
northwest of the country to escape
further attacks
c. Under Mao, the party reached out to
the vast rural population to fight the
Japanese
i. Mao’s emphasis on a peasant
revolution helped him win broad
support in China and served as
a model for other Th ird World
revolutionaries after 1945
ii. Mao also emphasized women’s
liberation
d. After the Japanese surrendered in 1945,
the Communists and the Nationalists
commenced a bloody civil war
i. The Nationalists, having lost
credibility after their losses to
the Japanese and because of their
postwar corruption, proved no
match for Communist forces and
fled to the island of Taiwan in 1949
C. Negotiated independence in India and Africa
1. In India and Africa, the British and the
French, realizing that only violent coercion
would sustain their empires in the postwar
era, withdrew in an orderly manner
2. India
a. Although independence came
nonviolently, India came dangerously
close to civil war immediately afterward
i. Within the Indian National
Congress Party, there was much
disagreement over the direction of
India after independence
a. Gandhi wanted a nonmodern
utopia of self-governing
villages
b. Nehru looked to Western and
Soviet models for establishing a
modern nation-state
ii. The Muslim minority increasingly
questioned the direction of
Indian nationalism that was often
predicated on Hindu myths and
symbols
a. Riots broke out between
Muslims and Hindus in 1946
iii. Middle-class leaders were alarmed
at the potential for radical peasant
movements
iv. On August 14 and 15, 1947,
British forces left a partitioned
subcontinent between a Muslim
majority Pakistani nation-state and
a Hindu majority Indian nation-
state
a. Within days, 1 million people
had been killed in sectarian
violence
b. 12 million immigrated between
the two countries
c. Gandhi’s fast in protest of the
violence helped to bring about
peace, but he himself was
assassinated a few months later
by a Hindu extremist
b. Nehru and the Congress Party
developed a workable system in India
over the next decade that emulated
Soviet-style economic planning and
Western democratic institutions
3. Africa for Africans
a. World War II and the period
immediately after saw the ranks of
nationalist movements swell
b. Africans migrated to cities in search of a
better life
232 ◆ Chapter 20 The Three-World Order, 1940–1975
c. Faced with rising nationalist demands,
European powers agreed to decolonize
i. Ghana (British Gold Coast)
became the fi rst independent state
ii. By 1963, all of British Africa except
Southern Rhodesia (modern-day
Zimbabwe) was independent
d. Charismatic nationalist leaders took
charge of political powers
i. Nkrumah led Ghana
ii. Azikiwe ruled Nigeria
e. Decolonization in French-ruled Africa
followed a similar path
i. At fi rst, the French attempted
assimilation into metropolitan
France
a. The French electorate balked
at these policies and under
President de Gaulle, France
dissolved its political ties in
Africa
f. Among the new leaders in Africa, the
sense of creating something different
from existing patterns was strong
i. Nkrumah, Azikiwe, and Julius
Nyerere of Tanzania looked to
Africa’s pre-colonial traditions
that would enable the continent
to develop an African form of
socialism without going through
depredations of capitalism
a. African personality was steeped
in communal values of social
justice and equality as opposed
to European individualism
b. Léopold Sédar Senghor of
Senegal best epitomized these
views
i. He and others developed
the idea of “Negritude,”
which claimed that people of
African descent were more
humane and had stronger
communal feelings than
Europeans
ii. He promised to assimilate
what was good from France
but not to be assimilated into
France
D. Violent and incomplete decolonizations
1. Palestine, Israel, and Egypt
a. The British, who ruled Palestine in
the interwar years, had issued the
Balfour Declaration, making Palestine a
“homeland” for Jews
b. Immigration of Jews, however, created
confl ict between fledgling Jewish and
Arab nations
i. Arabs living in Palestine declared
themselves Palestinians and
worked towards self-determination
ii. To dampen instability, the British
curtailed Jewish immigration
precipitously during World War II
and immediately after
c. In 1947, the British announced their
withdrawal from Palestine and asked
the United Nations to decide its fate
i. The United Nations voted to create
two states
a. Israel declared its existence in
May 1948 but fretted about its
insecure borders
b. Palestinians looked to Arab
neighbors to help them gain
control over the entire area
ii. The ensuing Arab-Israeli War was
won by Israel
a. The loss delegitimized Arab
ruling elites
b. It also created 1 million
Palestinian refugees in Arab
countries
d. In response to their defeat over the
partition of Palestine, Egyptian officers,
led by Gamal Abdel Nasser, overthrew
King Faruq in 1952
i. Nasser quickly instituted broad
land reform to gain support
ii. He also banned political parties
and enacted a new constitution
that banned Communists and the
Muslim Brotherhood and stripped
old elites of most of their wealth
e. In 1956, seeking to assert Egypt’s
influence, Nasser seized control of
the Suez Canal Company, controlled
mainly by British and French investors
i. Israeli, French, and British forces
intervened
ii. The Soviet Union and the United
States forced their withdrawal
 Chapter 20 The Three-World Order, 1940–1975 ◆ 233
iii. After regaining the canal, Nasser
became a hero and symbol of
pan-Arab nationalism across the
Middle East, including among
Palestinians
2. The Algerian War for Independence
a. The French considered Algeria a part of
metropolitan France
i. Over 1 million European colons
lived there
ii. They owned the best land and
monopolized political power
b. In 1954, Front de Libération Nationale
(FLN) forces opened guerrilla attacks
on French troops
i. The war dragged on for eight years
with atrocities committed by both
sides
ii. In 1958, colons and army officers
started an insurrection that led
to the collapse of the French
government and the emergence
of Charles de Gaulle as the leader
of a government backed by a new
constitution
c. In 1962, President de Gaulle and the
FLN negotiated a peace sett lement
i. 90 percent of the European
population fled Algeria
3. Eastern and southern Africa
a. The Mau Mau Uprising in Kenya,
which commenced in 1952, forced the
British to concede independence to
the black majority there in 1963,
despite the protests of 20,000 British
sett lers
b. Decolonization had to wait until
the 1970s in Portuguese Angola,
Portuguese Mozambique, and British
Southern Rhodesia
c. African women played vital roles in the
decolonization strategies
i. Organized demonstrations in
Africa
ii. Kenyan women supplied rebel
forces in hiding with food, medical
resources, and information on
British military
d. South Africa defied these changes
i. In 1948, the Afrikaner-dominated
Nationalist Party came to power
and enacted a series of segregation
laws called apartheid
a. The Group Areas Act restricted
blacks to living in areas
designated as homelands, only
leaving them if they had official
“passes”
ii. The African National Congress
protested these changes, which led
to government repression
a. After the Sharpeville Massacre
in 1960, the ANC and its leader
Nelson Mandela endorsed
violence against the regime
b. Mandela was imprisoned and
the ANC banned
iii. The West, especially the United
States, continued to support the
regime, seeing South Africa as
a bulwark against the spread of
Communism in Africa
4. Vietnam
a. The French had ruled Vietnam since the
1880s
b. French reforms gave rise to a new
indigenous middle-class intelligentsia
that began to push for a Vietnamese
nation-state in the interwar years
i. Ho Chi Minh looked to Marxism
as a source of inspiration
ii. During World War II, he embraced
Mao’s idea of an agrarian
revolution
a. He formed the Viet Minh—a
Communist-led national
liberation organization
c. When the French tried to restore their
control after the Second World War, the
Viet Minh opposed them with the use of
guerilla tactics
i. In 1954, the Viet Minh won the
decisive batt le of Dien Bien Phu
ii. A Geneva peace conference
divided the country into two
zones, one controlled by Ho
and the other by a French- and
American-supported government
d. North Vietnam supported the efforts
of the Viet Cong—Communist
guerillas—to overthrow the southern
regime and unite the country
234 ◆ Chapter 20 The Three-World Order, 1940–1975
e. During the 1960s, the United States
sent military forces to prop up the
southern regime
f. Faced with antiwar protests at home
and severe resistance by Vietnamese,
Americans began to withdraw troops
after the presidential election of 1968
g. A failed U.S. policy of Vietnamization,
implemented during America’s troop
withdrawal, led to the collapse of the
South Vietnamese government in 1975
V. Th ree Worlds
A. As decolonization spread, the United States
and the Soviet Union offered their models for
economic and political modernization to the
newly independent countries
B. Th ird World countries usually had ideas
of their own but found their efforts toward
modernization infringed upon by the two
superpowers
C. The First World
1. Building on the principles of liberal
modernism, exemplified by the New
Deal, the First World was committed to
capitalism and democracy after World
War II
2. Western Europe
a. The reconstruction of Western Europe
was a spectacular success
i. Agricultural and industrial
productivity soared
ii. Consumer goods such as
refrigerators and automobiles
became commonplace
iii. Governments sponsored elaborate
welfare states
3. The United States
a. The United States entered a prolonged
expansion during the Second World
War that continued until the early 1970s
b. Home ownership became common
c. “American-made” was synonymous
with high quality
d. With the baby boom came the growth
of suburbia
4. Anxieties over the cold war produced an
anti-Communist hysteria among many
Americans against suspected domestic
subversives in the late 1940s and early
1950s led by Senator Joseph McCarthy
a. Tensions relaxed after 1954 but
politicians of all stripes worked to avoid
the “soft on communism” label
5. Also during the 1950s, African Americans
began to protest segregation and
discrimination and to demand an equal
share of the economic pie
a. The NAACP won many court victories,
especially against segregation in
education
b. Martin Luther King successfully
employed Gandhi’s tactics of nonviolent
confrontation to win support against
segregation
6. The Japanese “miracle”
a. American military and economic
support allowed Japan to focus on
rebuilding its destroyed infrastructure
with up-to-date equipment
i. The United States opened its
markets to Japanese products
ii. Government policies channeled
wages into savings and fostered the
growth of export sectors
iii. By the 1970s, Japanese products
had become sophisticated and
successful in international markets
b. Japan’s economy grew by 10 percent
annually during the 1950s and 1960s
D. The Second World
1. The Soviets turned Eastern Europe into
a bloc of Communist “buffer states” after
World War II
a. The Soviet system continued to frown
on private property and to emphasize
state management of the economy with
a cradle-to-grave comprehensive welfare
system
2. The Soviet model appealed to many
because of its egalitarian principles, despite
its inability to provide the consumer goods
common in the First World
a. Soviet science gained worldwide
acclaim, especially after the launching
of Sputnik in 1957
3. Repression and dissent
a. The Soviet system, however, was inhu-
mane, brutally suppressing dissent and
those it deemed dangerous to the state
b. Even returning Soviet soldiers who
had been prisoners of war were sent
 Chapter 20 The Three-World Order, 1940–1975 ◆ 235
to camps after World War II because
they had had too much contact with
foreigners
4. In the 1950s, the Communist Party tried to
soften these abuses
a. With Stalin’s death, the new party leader
Nikita Khrushchev denounced Stalin’s
human rights abuses as not part of true
communism
b. Leaders in Poland and Hungary
immediately liberalized political and
economic controls
i. Soviet leadership soon crushed this
dissent, although it did allow some
economic and cultural autonomy
c. In the Soviet Union, dissidents of all
stripes emerged, but they were carefully
monitored and often imprisoned
E. The Th ird World
1. Leaders of newly independent countries
were convinced that they could build
strong democratic polities like those in the
West and could promote rapid economic
development as the Soviet Union had
while avoiding the empty materialism
they associated with the West and the
state oppression that had occurred in
Communist regimes
2. Limits to autonomy
a. Th is third way proved difficult
i. The West sought to insure that
market structures and private
property remained intact
ii. The World Bank and the IMF
loaned millions for development,
but enforced a First World
approach to modernization on
Th ird World nations
iii. First World multinational
corporations also infringed on the
sovereignty of many Th ird World
nations and transferred wealth
away from them back to their home
countries
iv. Both the United States and Soviet
Union frowned upon neutralism
and often impeded Th ird World
autonomy
a. The Soviet Union backed
Communist insurgencies
around the globe
b. The United States used its
global alliances to establish
military bases around the world
c. Both superpowers contributed
to the militarization of the
Th ird World
i. In Africa and the Middle
East, both superpowers sold
weapons to regimes in return
for support and often created
“client states”
b. These became known as “neo-colonial”
problems
i. By the 1960s, many new
states were mired in debt and
dependency and managed by
corrupt regimes supported by one
of the superpowers
3. Th ird World revolutionaries and radicals
a. During the 1960s, Th ird World
radicalism emerged as a powerful force
i. Revolutionaries drew on the world
of Frantz Fanon who urged a
decolonization of the mind as well
as society
ii. Mao’s leadership in China also
inspired many radicals elsewhere
a. In 1958, he initiated the Great
Leap Forward
i. The bold initiative divided
China into thousands of
communes where peasants
would figure out how to
produce the food they
needed and the industrial
products that would propel
China past the superpowers
b. The experiment failed miserably
i. Over 20 million perished
from famine
c. In 1966, he launched the Great
Proletarian Cultural Revolution
i. Millions of young people
were urged to cleanse the
Communist Party and
society from “old customs,
old culture, old habits, and
old ideas”
ii. The political tension kept the
country in turmoil for ten
years
236 ◆ Chapter 20 The Three-World Order, 1940–1975
d. Despite these failures, radicals
found his style and emphasis on
the peasants appealing
b. In Latin America, radicals dreamed of
ending United States’ domination of the
region
i. American intervention overthrew
a Guatemalan government bent
on land reform and dampening
the influence of the American
United Fruit Company on the
country’s economic and political
development
ii. In Cuba, Fidel Castro launched a
successful guerrilla war against an
American-backed regime in the
late 1950s
iii. When he redistributed land and
nationalized foreign oil refi neries,
the U.S. government began to
actively seek ways to overthrow the
new regime
a. In 1961, the CIA sponsored
the failed Bay of Pigs invasion
manned by Cuban exiles and
opponents of Castro
iv. In 1962, Castro aligned himself
with the Soviet Union and
appealed to his new ally to install
nuclear weapons in Cuba in order
to forestall any future American
invasions
a. When the Soviets obliged, it
brought the world the closest
it has come so far to nuclear
confrontation
b. Eventually the Kennedy
administration convinced
the Soviets to remove the
weapons
c. Radicals throughout Latin America
were emboldened by Castro’s success
and hoped to emulate him
d. The United States worked with allies in
the region to combat these efforts
i. During the 1960s, the Alliance
for Progress provided money and
advisers to improve local land
systems and teach the population
the benefits of liberal capitalism
ii. The CIA worked with the Chilean
military to overthrow Salvador
Allende, a left-wing, elected
president, in 1973
e. By 1975, most rebel forces had been
liquidated or isolated. Most of Latin
America was run by military regimes,
however
VI. Tensions in the Th ree-World Order
A. Th ird World radicalism exposed vulnerabilities
in the three-world order along with the
continuation of the Vietnam War, dissidence in
the Soviet bloc, and the rising fortunes of oil-
producing nations and Japan
B. Tensions in the First World
1. During the 1960s, American society lost
some of its confidence
a. The assassination of President Kennedy
in 1963, the violence against the civil
rights movement in 1964, the urban
race riots that engulfed the country
from 1965 to 1968, and widespread
opposition to the Vietnam War—
especially on college campuses—
disturbed millions
b. Th is unsett ledness occurred at a time
when President Lyndon Johnson led an
effort to expand the welfare state and
addressed the weaknesses in American
capitalism
c. Johnson’s programs and the civil
rights movement unleashed other
campaigns for social justice among
Native Americans, Mexican Americans,
homosexuals, and women, among
others
i. The development of an oral
contraceptive helped unleash a
sexual revolution and freed many
women to pursue careers outside
the home
d. Protests against the Vietnam War
helped contribute to the withdrawal of
American troops from the confl ict and
encouraged greater dissent from the
foreign policy consensus of containing
communism abroad
C. Tensions in world Communism
1. Following the successful example of
Yugoslavia in 1948 and the unsuccessful
attempts of Poland and Hungary in 1956,
Czechoslovakia attempted to loosen Soviet
domination in 1968 with the Prague Spring

a. The reformist government of Alexander
Dubcek allowed for more political
expression
b. Soviet troops crushed this momentum
2. Underground dissent continued to grow
after the crushing of the Prague Spring in
the Soviet Union and its satellites
3. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union
allowed “national Communisms” in many
Eastern countries to emerge as well as
in several Soviet republics, in return for
loyalty
4. By the early 1970s, the Soviet Union and
China had split from previous cooperation
a. In the 1960s, Romania gained
autonomy in its foreign policy by
playing off its larger Communist allies.
b. African nations exploited Sino-Soviet
tension to gain further aid from the
Soviet Union
D. Tensions in the Th ird World
1. Although the Th ird World never had
a formal alliance, efforts to promote
cooperation often foundered in the 1960s
and 1970s
a. Several countries in Africa, Southeast
Asia, South America, and the Middle
East formed the Organization of
Petroleum Exporting Countries
(OPEC) in 1960 to gain more from
world trade in this commodity
i. After the Arab-Israeli War of 1973,
Arab members boycotted Israel’s
First World allies
a. The boycott dramatically
raised the price of oil and led to
economic crisis in the West
2. Other commodity producers tried to
duplicate OPEC’s success such as coffee
and rubber
a. OPEC’s triumph proved short-lived
i. New oil discoveries outside
OPEC’s orbit reduced pressures on
consuming nations to purchase oil
from OPEC at inflated prices
ii. Most of the revenue gained from
the boycott flowed back to First
World banks or was invested in the
United States and Europe
a. First World banks loaned
some of the money to poor
Chapter 20 The Three-World Order, 1940–1975 ◆ 237
countries in Asia, Africa,
and Latin America at high
interest rates
3. Some countries escaped the cycle of
underdevelopment, such as South Korea
and Taiwan, where states nurtured
industries, educated the population, and
required foreign nationals to work with
native fi rms
a. Their successes did litt le to change
international markets
VII. Conclusion
A. World War II completed a process that began
with World War I
B. The new three-world order replaced European
domination and the old liberal order
1. The United States and the Soviet Union
became the world’s superpowers
2. The nation-state, not empire, became the
primary form for organizing communities
3. States gained increased power everywhere
C. Stresses in the three-world order that emerged
after the war were beginning to undermine it by
the 1970s
LECTURE IDEAS
A Three-World Order
The epilogue of David Kennedy’s Freedom from Fear: The
American People in Depression and the War, 1929–1945
(1999) and the fi rst chapter, “The Mushroom Cloud and
the Iron Curtain,” in David Reynolds’s One World Divis-
ible: A Global History Since 1945 (2000) provide the ana-
lytical framework that addresses two of the main themes
early in this chapter: World War II’s shattering of the Euro-
pean-centered world, already challenged by World War I,
and the beginnings of a three-world order in its aftermath.
Each author addresses the issue of the quest for security
in light of the devastation of the Great Depression and the
war that stimulated competing visions of modernity.
Genocide and Human Rights
A lecture that explores genocide and its shaping of the
twentieth-century world can touch on many develop-
ments before and after World War II. In particular, efforts
to prevent such atrocities after 1945 touch on the growth
of new international organizations, the struggle to de-
velop a common set of guiding principles for all nations,
238 ◆ Chapter 20 The Three-World Order, 1940–1975
and the continued struggle between national identities
and human rights. For information see Howard Ball, Pros-
ecuting War Crimes and Genocide: The Twentieth-Century
Experience (1999).
The Rise of Tanzania
To introduce the theme of Th ird World attempts to de-
velop modern nation-states, have students read the Ar-
usha Declaration from Tanzania in 1967, found at:
www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1967-arusha.html
Ask them to describe the strategy the Tanzanian gov-
ernment pursued. What ideas did it borrow from the
First and Second Worlds? How did it reflect indigenous
customs and values? How likely was it to succeed? What
problems did it face?
Japan Rises from the Ashes
A lecture on Japan’s recovery and emergence as an eco-
nomic superpower by the 1980s is useful when exploring
this chapter. A discussion of Japan’s rise from defeat reveals
the impact of the cold war in East Asia, alternative routes
to modernity (mass production and mass consumption),
and stresses in the First World by the 1970s. The lecture
could also include how the Japanese model was success-
fully emulated in other East Asian nations such as South
Korea and Taiwan. The best work on the early stages of
Japan’s recovery is John Dower’s Embracing Defeat: Japan
in the Wake of World War II (1999). For a broader view see
W. G. Beasley, The Rise of Modern Japan (2000).
China’s Views to Progress
Jung Chang’s Wild Swans: Three Daughters of China (1991)
provides an interesting format for a lecture on the Chi-
nese Communists’ victory in 1949 and Mao’s attempts to
modernize the nation (The Great Leap Forward and the
Cultural Revolution). Also useful is Jonathan Spence’s
Search for Modern China (1991).
The Suez Crisis
A lecture on the Suez Crisis can explore several themes
presented in this chapter. Decolonization, the cold war,
the Arab-Israeli confl ict, and the three-world order are
all intertwined in this one episode. Anthony Gorst and
Lewis Johnman’s The Suez Crisis (1997) provides a variety
in analysis and sources on the incident.
The Vietnam War and Decolonization
The Vietnam War should be explored from multiple an-
gles. The struggle of Vietnam involves decolonization, na-
tion building, the cold war, and cracks in the First World
system. Gabriel Kolko’s Anatomy of a War: Vietnam, the
United States, and the Modern Historical Experience (1994)
gives a broad analytical framework.
Third World Development
A lecture comparing Soviet intervention in Eastern Eu-
rope and American intervention in Latin America be-
tween 1950 and 1975 provides an opportunity to explore
the cold war and the limits it placed on Th ird World alter-
native developmental strategies and the harshness of So-
viet control over the Second World. For information see
John Young, Cold War Europe, 1945–1989 (1991); David
Reynolds, One World Divisible: A Global History Since
1945 (2000); Walter LaFeber, Inevitable Revolutions: The
United States in Central America (1993); and John Charles
Chasteen, Born in Blood and Fire: A Concise History of
Latin America (2001).
The Cold War in the Third World
To begin a discussion of the cold war in a global context,
show an image of the Berlin Wall, the starker the better. You
can fi nd images at “On the Trace of the Berlin Wall,” at:
www.the-berlin-wall.de/
Ask students to express what the wall represents to
them. Then ask them to analyze whether or not the wall
represented stability. The goal is for them to see that the
cold war in many ways stabilized affairs in Europe but
destabilized affairs in the Th ird World. Ask them what
image or images might symbolize the cold war in the
Th ird World.
CLASS ACTIVITIES
Mortal Enemies
To most students today, the cold war is history, not a
personal memory. A group activity is useful in order for
them to see how and why the United States and the Soviet
Union viewed each other with such suspicion and hostil-
ity at the end of World War II, despite having been allies.
Divide students into groups of American and Soviet nego-
tiators. Have each group develop a strategy for securing
peace in Europe that would further their economic and
strategic interests. Prepare a handout that insures each

group understands sources of strain between the emerg-
ing superpowers. For example, Americans remember the
Hitler-Stalin Pact of 1939 and the Soviet invasion of Po-
land after the war. The Soviets remember American inter-
vention against the Red Army during the Russian Civil
War. Then have each side negotiate a peace treaty with the
Germans. Identify areas of agreement and disagreement.
Have students analyze how areas of disagreement led to a
forty-year standoff between the two superpowers.
Old-Time Radio
A good Web site to use as a springboard for a class activity
is Old-Time Radio: The Golden Years at:
www.old-time.com/golden_age/index.html
If you go to the page called Famous Weekly Shows, you
and your students can look at the various shows, their
sponsors, what radio stations they were on, and the time
slots they were on, and then listen to clips of the shows.
By engaging in a discussion about entertainment and pop
culture, students can begin to see how important and
pervasive radio was. You can help them unpack the sym-
bolism and iconography embedded within the shows to
make connections between these things and the values of
Americans in the 1940s and 1950s.
The Nanking Massacre
A brief overview of the Japanese massacre of Chinese civil-
ians in Nanking during World War II should be one goal
for this exercise. You can also help students recognize and
compare the complexities and contradictions in the race
theory that existed in Japan as well as Germany. Use Japa-
nese propaganda material from World War II to prompt a
discussion of the means by which ordinary people could
come to believe in such rhetoric as “co-prosperity sphere”
and “Asia for Asians.” Iris Chang’s groundbreaking work,
The Rape of Nanking, provides resources for further dis-
cussion of the concepts of perpetrators, bystanders, and
rescuers that naturally leads out of this kind of debate.
Propoganda materials can be found at:
www.geocities.com/nankingatrocities/Propaganda/
propaganda_02.htm
The Atomic Bomb
Using the decision to drop the atomic bomb as the basis
for your students’ debate, have them read some of the se-
lected primary source documents found at the following
sites:
Chapter 20 The Three-World Order, 1940–1975 ◆ 239
www.trumanlibrary.org/whistlestop/study _
collections/bomb/large/index.php
www.dannen.com/decision/
www.colorado.edu/AmStudies/lewis/2010/atomic.
htm
www.doug-long.com/debate.htm
You may wish to summarize some of these details, or
direct students to the sites and let them look for them-
selves. Some of the more insightful documents are those
by Stimson, Truman, and Alperovitz, and the petition by
a majority of the inventors of the bomb. Students can do
further research on their own if they wish. Make sure they
understand that historical context will help them in form-
ing their opinion. Once they have developed an opinion
and gathered enough information, have them complete
the debate matrix on the next page. The intent of the ma-
trix is to help students develop a position on a particular
point that is logical and grounded in fact. In this instance
you can give them the question: Should the United States
have dropped the atomic bombs on Japan? Yes or no? In
class, they can use the materials on the matrix to debate
their chosen position. Th is question is not easily answer-
able. Students often base their opinion on their political
leaning. You can create a more rigorous and often more in-
teresting activity by assigning students a position before
the readings. Th is forces them to develop an argument
they may not agree with and hone debating skills that are
grounded in historical, factual details. Often this topic
can become quite emotional. If the discussion is not me-
diated carefully, a few students can take over the debate.
However, it is also a debate that students fi nd very stimu-
lating and from which they gain a great deal.
RECOMMENDED FILMS
■ The Battle of Algiers (1966, 2004, 125 min.). This remark-
able fi lm has gained new currency in the age of terrorism
and post–cold war confl ict. A product of the Italian direc-
tor Gillo Pontecorvo, it recounts the Algerians’ violent
struggle for independence from France through the use of
terrorism during the 1960s. Although a European-made
fi lm, it offers a remarkably empathetic perspective toward
the Algerians, allowing the viewer to gain a better under-
standing of the difficulties of the decolonization process.
The extras on the new Criterion Collection DVD are very
useful. Some of them could be shown as stand-alone in-
terviews. Th is is an exceptional option.
■ Camp de Thiaroye (1987, 152 min.). This film is based
on a true story about the demobilization and ultimate
240 ◆ Chapter 20 The Three-World Order, 1940–1975

Debate Matrix1, i

Name:
Date of Debate:
Debate Topic: Example
Your Personal Position in Debate:
Argument Supporting Evidence for Argument
1.

2.

3.

iHere is an example of how to complete a matrix. Once you understand the concept, delete this line before printing the matrix. If you
complete online, then you can type to the length you need and then print it out.

Example
Debate Position: The sky is not naturally blue
Argument Supporting Evidence
Argument 1 a. Joe Smith tested the flakes found below the sky and the flakes were paint
(Smith, 2007 p. 24).
Much of the blue color is believed to be paint.
b. Sandy Schmandy was interviewed by the scientists and claims to have been one of
the original painters. The paint she provided matches Joe Smith’s flakes of paint
(Winters, 1995).

Argument 2 a. Astronauts who have traveled into outer space say that the sky isn’t blue once you
The portions that are not painted are thought pass a certain spot, so it can be concluded that reflection from the sun makes
to be reflective. it blue.
b.

1Quotes, citation of texts, etc. are all good ways to strengthen your argument.

massacre of a troop of Senegalese soldiers fighting for the
French army during World War II. Directed by the Sen-
egalese fi lmmaker Ousmane Sembene, it is one of the few
fi lms that offers a purely African perspective. The soldiers
served honorably, yet things went awry after their service
was to end; their mistreatment at the hands of the French
was egregious. The fi lm, although fiction, stays close to
historical accounts and provides viewers a window into
an aspect of modern history that is litt le researched or dis-
cussed. Far more Africans served and died in European
armed forces during World War II than most of us realize,
but information regarding their roles in the war is scant.
Th is fi lm helps draw interest to this long-neglected area.
It is subtitled; the actors speak French and Wolof. You
could use the fi lm or portions of it to make comparisons
between the treatment of African American soldiers and
African soldiers.
■ Ducktators (1942, 7 min.). This early Looney Tunes car-
toon offers a unique way to look at the pervasiveness of
war culture in everyday life. The fact that this is a cartoon
allows you to discuss the historical evolution of cartoons
in modern culture. In the plot, Hitler, Mussolini, and Hi-
rohito, portrayed as ducks, take over the barnyard. You
can discuss stereotyping and symbolism as well.
■ Enemy at the Gates (2001, 101 min.). This film contin-
ues to be popular among students and is one of the few
war fi lms that succeeded in representing a historical
event well. Set during the Batt le of Stalingrad, it allows
students to understand the difficulties of house-to-house
combat, the devastation of Stalingrad, the tenuous posi-
tion women found themselves in, and fi nally, the role of
snipers in this batt le. A number of scenes offer teachable
moments: some of the sniper scenes, a discussion about
the worth of women, and others.
■ Grave of the Fireflies (1988, 89 min.). This animé film
could be considered an odd choice except that it provides
a rare opportunity to look at Japan immediately after the
bombings from a Japanese perspective. The genre will
readily appeal to students. The story shows the struggle
of two children to survive after the bombing, alone when
both parents were killed. They unsuccessfully try to navi-
gate the turmoil of a collapsed society. The fi lm highlights
and criticizes the selfishness present during and after the
war, a phenomenon much written about by Japanese re-
searchers. It also is very antiwar, similar to European fi lms
such as All Quiet on the Western Front.
■ Intezaar (Waiting) (1995, 26 min.). This brief documen-
tary offers a perspective on the refugee camps of Gaza,
which the UN established in 1948 as temporary housing.
Chapter 20 The Three-World Order, 1940–1975 ◆ 241
Palestinian refugees ended up in Gaza when their lands
were declared part of Israel and they became stateless.
The director grew up as a Gazan refugee and returns to
interview family and friends.
■ The Killing Fields (1984, 141 min.). This film relates
the story of a Cambodian photojournalist working with
an American journalist who chooses to stay in Cambo-
dia when Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge take over. As his
American friend Sidney Schanberg cares for his family
and tries to fi nd him, Dith Pran is left trying to survive
in the reeducation camps of the Khmer Rouge. Manag-
ing to escape, he makes his way to the border of Thailand.
He is fi nally reunited with his family and his friend. The
movie won many awards and educated Americans about
the plight of the Cambodians. It honors the true story of
Dith Pran and Sidney Schanberg, who were both involved
in its production. It provides multiple themes for teach-
ing, from genocide and totalitarianism to the history of
Southeast Asia and colonialism.
■ Memórias de Subdesarrollo (Memories of Underde-
velopment) (1968, 97 min.). Memórias is a subtitled,
feature-length fi lm based on a novel of the same title by
Eduardo Desnoes. What makes this story useful is the
reminiscence of the protagonist, a wealthy aspiring writer
who looks back over the changes in his country, Cuba: the
revolution, the Cuban missile crisis, economic and tech-
nological changes, and the new world of Communism.
Because of the structure of the fi lm, it would be easy to
use sections in the classroom instead of showing the
whole fi lm.
■ Night and Fog (1955, 2003, 35 min.). Probably the most
important documentary fi lm on the Holocaust. The fact
that it was the fi rst fi lm to address the Holocaust adds to
its historicity. Its length makes it useful for teaching be-
cause it allows time for a brief discussion and to help stu-
dents shift from the surreal, difficult subject of genocide
back to class. There are problems with using it, however,
the greatest being that it never once mentions that the
Jews were the largest victim group. Also be aware that
Night and Fog is very much an art fi lm. Therefore a discus-
sion is necessary for students to understand the meaning
of Jean Resnais’s work.
■ The Day After Trinity (1981, 2002 DVD, 89 mins.). This
Oscar-nominated documentary follows the development
of the atomic bomb through the lens of physicist J. Robert
Oppenheimer. Director Jon Else interviewed many of the
scientists who worked on the development of the bomb
at Los Alamos, including Oppenheimer’s brother Frank.
One of the important questions the fi lm asks is why would
242 ◆ Chapter 20 The Three-World Order, 1940–1975
scientists work on weapons of mass destruction (WMDs).
It also explores the postwar, cold war world where McCa-
rthy and HUAC destroyed the careers of some of those
same scientists, including Oppenheimer, because of their
prewar associations with the Left.
■ Two Hours That Changed the World (1994, 100 min.).
Th is documentary is narrated by David Brinkley and in-
cludes interviews with the former prime minister of Japan,
a pilot of one of the bomber planes, and former Senator
David Inouye as well as other Japanese participants and
American survivors. It was a joint venture of ABC News
and NHK Television (Japanese) and both sides contrib-
uted equal voices. Th is alone ensures a more balanced
representation of the event at Pearl Harbor such as why
the bombs were dropped and how people reacted.
■ Vietnam (ten-part series, each part avg. 59 min.). This
monumental series on Vietnam combines hour-long news
reports from the period with historical documentary-fi lm
style, providing as complete a fi lm representation of the
war as may be possible. Part I, “The Seeds of Confl ict,”
examines America’s growing involvement with Vietnam.
It discusses the pacification project and introduces the
policy makers and politicians involved in the decision
making process. Part 2, “America Takes Charge,” shows
how the war became an “American war.” Part 3, “The Elu-
sive Enemy,” attempts to offer the perspective of the Viet
Cong, including a discussion of their tactics and weap-
ons. Part 4, “Courage under Fire,” focuses on combat
and shows footage of combat action as well as incursions
into Cambodia and tries to explain why the United States
moved into Cambodia. Part 5, “The World of Charlie
Company,” is a news documentary that was aired during
the war on a major public network. The reporter lived with
Charlie Company and tried to show the day-to-day life of
an average soldier, his confl icting views and concerns.
Part 6, “Fire from the Sky,” tells the story from the per-
spective of the Air Force pilots. Part 7, “Dateline: Saigon,”
is another news report that was aired on a major network
ten years after the war, showing the fall of Saigon to the
North Vietnamese. Ten years later, they return to Saigon,
now Ho Chi Minh City. Part 8, “The Tet Offensive,” re-
counts one of the most horrible and unexpected attacks
for Americans during the war. On the Vietnamese New
Year, the Viet Cong attacked more than one hundred cit-
ies. Part 9, “America Pulls Back,” shows the seamy side of
the war: drugs, desertion, riots, and plummeting morale
during the waning days of U.S. involvement. It shows how
Kissinger and Nixon try to fi nd a way to withdraw from
the war with some honor still intact. Part 10, “The End of
the Road,” shows America’s withdrawal and tells the story
of the fall of Saigon and America’s MIAs.
■ Young Blood (1986, 110 min.). Part of the PBS People’s
Century series, this documentary looks at the phenom-
enal global youth-student movements that erupted be-
tween 1950 and 1975. In addition PBS offers a companion
Web site:
www.pbs.org/wgbh/peoplescentury/episodes/
youngblood/
with additional interviews and teaching tools. Most of
the representations of youth movements are American
and European based so there is only a nod to the fact that
students were rebelling globally. It does open the door to
discussions of other youth movements and links them to
postwar demographics and economic trends. Certainly,
there ought to be a better fi lm that looks at this topic from
a global perspective (including China, Mexico, India,
Czechoslovakia, and so on), but in case there isn’t, this
one at least demonstrates that the youth movement was
not strictly a U.S. phenomenon.
RECOMMENDED READING
Franz Ansprenger, 1989. The Dissolution of the Colonial
Empires.
John Charles Chasteen, 2001. Born in Blood and Fire: A
Concise History of Latin America.
John W. Dower, 1999. Embracing Defeat: Japan in the
Wake of World War II.
Frantz Fanon, 1963, 2004. The Wretched of the Earth.
James L. Gelvin, 2004. The Modern Middle East: A
History.
George Herring, 1986. America’s Longest War: The United
States and Vietnam, 1950–1975.
Raul Hilberg, 1967. The Destruction of the European Jews.
Walter LaFeber, 2001. America, Russia, and the Cold War,
1945–1996, 9th ed.
Melvyn P. Lefler, 1992. A Preponderance of Power:
National Security, the Truman Administration, and the
Cold War.
Maurice Mesiner, 1986. Mao’s China and After: A History
of the People’s Republic.
Barbara D. Metcalf and Thomas R. Metcalf, 2001. A
Concise History of India.
Williamson Murray and Allan Millett, 2000. A War to Be
Won: Fighting the Second World War.
Richard Polenberg, 1982. One Nation Divisible: Class,
Race, and Ethnicity in the United States Since 1938.
 Chapter 20 The Three-World Order, 1940–1975 ◆ 243

Jeremi Suri, 2005. Power and Protest: Global Revolution Fidel Castro History Archive
and the Rise of Détente. Variety of links to primary sources
www.marxists.org/history/cuba/archive/castro/
index.htm
WEB SITES
For European Recovery: The Fiftieth Anniversary of the
Armenian National Institute Marshall Plan
About the Armenian genocide with teaching tools Library of Congress exhibit
www.armenian-genocide.org/ www.loc.gov/exhibits/marshall/
Battlefield Vietnam Internet Modern History Sourcebook: Decolonization
PBS site with teaching tools Primary sources on topic
www.pbs.org/batt lefieldvietnam/ www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/modsbook51.html
BBC News: China: 50 Years of Communism National Civil Rights Museum Virtual Tour
A variety of media and stories from past to present Various museum exhibits
news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/special_report/1999/09/99/ www.civilrightsmuseum.org/gallery/movement.asp
china_50_ years_of_communism/456465.stm
The Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries
BBC: The Story of Afr ica (OPEC) Brief History
www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/africa/features/ OPEC official site
storyofafrica/ www.opec.org/aboutus/history/history.htm
The Soviet Invasion of Czechoslovakia, August 1968 The United Nations and Decolonization
Includes history and archival materials Addresses present-day issues
www.lib.umich.edu/spec-coll/czech/index.html www.un.org/Depts/dpi/decolonization/main.htm
Che Guevara Links United States Holocaust Museum
Variety of links Detailed site on the Holocaust and other genocides
www.neravt.com/left/che.htm www.USHMM.org
CNN: Cold War World War II Images
General overview Historical photos
www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/cold.war/ www.ww2incolor.com/gallery/
CH A PTER 21

Globalization,
1970–2000

▶ Global Integration Aging

▶ Removing Obstacles to Globalization Health
Ending the Cold War Education
Africa and the End of White Rule Work
▶ Unleashing Globalization Production and Consumption in the Global
Finance and Trade Economy
Migration Agricultural Production
Culture Natural Resources
New Media Environment
Global Culture ▶ Citizenship in the Global World
Local Culture Supernational Organizations
Communications Violence
▶ Characteristics of the New Global Order Religious Foundations of Politics
The Demography of Globalization Acceptance of and Resistance to Democracy
Families

LECTURE OUTLINE resources, and education amongst and within societies.

By the 1970s, the three-world system that emerged after
World War II was under intense strain. By 2000, the
Second World had collapsed and the Th ird World had
splintered. Globalization, a new architecture of power,
increasingly shaped all societies, including those in the
First World. While not entirely new, the increased move-
ment of peoples, capital, goods, and ideas across national
boundaries in the last decades of the twentieth century
has clearly opened up a new era in human history. These
forces have replaced large political empires as the chief
engines of global integration. To some, globalization is
Americanization. Although the United States has cham-
pioned many of these changes and has emerged as the
most influential society in the world today, the U.S. itself
is being transformed by the forces of globalization. All
nation-states are struggling to retain a sense of nation-
hood in the face of emerging or resurging local, regional,
or even transnational identities. And globalization has
not eliminated the disparities in the access to wealth,
If anything, globalization has heightened it. Despite the
dramatic changes, there still exist worlds together and
worlds apart, even if they are considerably different from
those in 1300.
I. Global Integration
A. During the 1970s political practices and
institutions associated with the three-world
order began to crumble
II. Removing Obstacles to Globalization
A. A new architecture of power emerged that
united the world into a global marketplace
1. United States promoted change
2. Ending the cold war
a. The cold war limited global exchanges
i. After 1960, regional confl icts
in Southeast Asia, Afghanistan,
and Central America brought
tremendous costs to the regions
involved

244

ii. The confl ict also stretched both
superpowers’ resources
a. The largest peacetime
accumulation of arms in world
history occurred during the
1970s and 1980s
b. Despite efforts at arms control,
expensive programs such
as “Star Wars” mired both
governments in debt
b. Both alliances showed signs of cracking
starting in the 1970s
i. By the 1980s the Soviet Union was
caught in a military stalemate in
Afghanistan
ii. Eastern Europe had become
dependent on Western loans and
consumer goods
iii. The Western public was divided
over the nuclear weapons buildup
of the 1980s
iv. Japanese economic strides
challenged American and
European industries’ ability to
provide employment and profits
c. Starting in the late 1980s, the Soviet
bloc collapsed
i. Planned economies failed to
provide consumer goods and
health care on a par with the West
ii. The selection of a Polish pope
inspired massive resistance to
Communist rule
iii. In 1980, Solidarity, an independent
union, formed to bring down the
socialist state in Poland
iv. Mikhail Gorbachev, elevated
to leadership of the Soviet
Communist Party in 1985, tried
to reform the Soviet bloc along the
lines of the 1968 Prague Spring
a. He also launched major arms
control initiatives with the
United States
b. Soon civic groups emerged
throughout the Eastern bloc
pressing for more personal
freedoms and national
autonomy
v. Instead of using the massive forces
at his disposal to save his regime,
Gorbachev let it go
Chapter 21 Globalization, 1970–2000 ◆ 245
a. Hard-liners staged a failed coup
to arrest these developments in
1991
vi. By the end of 1992, the Soviet
Union was no more
vii. Several Eastern European states
ceased to exist
a. East Germany quickly merged
with West Germany
b. Yugoslavia disintegrated into
several nations, much like the
Soviet Union
c. Th is collapse was not entirely
peaceful as fighting erupted in
Moldova and Yugoslavia
viii. Over the rest of the decade, most
of these societies, with a few
exceptions, experienced political
and economic stagnation
3. Africa and the end of white rule
a. Final decolonization, or the end of non-
European rule, in Africa occurred after
1975
i. Portuguese colonies in Angola,
Guinea-Bissau, and Mozambique
became independent by the mid-
1970s
ii. International pressure and Robert
Mugabe’s liberation guerilla
movement brought an end to
white rule in Rhodesia, now called
Zimbabwe
iii. International pressure and internal
protest eventually led the white
National Party in South Africa
to legalize the African National
Congress and hold democratic
elections in 1994.
a. Nelson Mandela, released from
prison in 1990, became the new
president bent on preserving
South Africa’s industry,
education, wealth, and fledgling
multiracial democracy
iv. Decolonization did not deliver
many of its promises; Africa
remained embroiled in ethnic,
religious, and military confl icts
III. Unleashing Globalization
A. By the 1990s, most states eliminated
many barriers to trade, migration, and
246 ◆ Chapter 21 Globalization, 1970–2000
investment and unleashed the forces of
globalization
1. Finance and trade
a. In the 1970s, governments in the First
World eliminated fi xed exchange rates;
this led to a new system of informal
management of money across borders,
with private banks playing a large role,
along with governments, in regulating
the global economy
b. Intellectually, Keynesian ideas of
government management lost sway as
a younger generation of economists
preached a philosophy of unfettered
markets as the best means to achieve
growth
i. These ideas strongly influenced
the Thatcher and Reagan
administrations in Great Britain
and the United States, respectively
ii. International Monetary Fund
(IMF) emerged as a central player
c. International fi nancial deregulation
made it easier for transnational
transactions, acquisitions, and mergers
between banks and businesses
d. The “debt crisis” of the 1980s
and the International Monetary
Fund’s response furthered fi nancial
deregulation and integration
i. In the 1970s, Latin American
and Eastern European nations
borrowed billions from First World
banks
ii. When repayment proved difficult,
the IMF bailed these governments
out on the condition of reducing
state management of the national
economy
e. New technology further enabled
fi nancial integration
i. The Internet and online trading
accelerated capital mobility
a. Accelerated capital mobility
created enormous volatility
and fi nancial panics in Mexico,
Russia, and East Asia in the
1990s
f. Financial integration increased
commercial interdependence
i. Global trade increased tenfold
from 1973–1998
ii. International divisions of labor
shifted
a. More and more, Th ird World
countries became suppliers
of manufactured goods, not
primarily raw materials
g. Economic integration spurred the rise
of East Asia’s economic prominence
i. Share of world exports doubled
from 1965 to 1990
ii. Japan became the world’s leading
investor
h. Many countries responded to global
competition by creating regional
economic blocs
i. In 1992, the United States,
Canada, and Mexico signed the
North American Free Trade
Agreement (NAFTA)
ii. Europeans expanded the European
Union, slashed trade barriers, and
made plans for a uniform currency
during the 1990s
i. High technology and knowledge-based
goods became ever more important
exports and imports
i. Th is created greater disparity
between wealthy countries and
those still mainly producing low-
tech goods and raw materials
2. Migration
a. Migration, always a major feature in
world history, changed after 1970
i. Europeans were no longer on the
move
ii. Africans, Asians, and Latin
Americans were the most likely
to migrate, usually to Europe or
North America
b. Immigration after 1970 has conformed
to existing political relations in that
migrants moved from former colonies
or dependencies to former imperial
powers or between countries with close
diplomatic ties
i. Many immigrants began as
temporary or guest workers,
especially in Europe and Japan,
where national identities were
considered ethnically homogenous
c. Economic factors have motivated most
migrations
 Chapter 21 Globalization, 1970–2000 ◆ 247
i. Global inequities stimulated mass
movements from less developed to
more developed countries
d. International migration has often been
an extension of internal migration from
rural to urban areas
i. Lagos, Nigeria, grew from 41,000
people in 1900 to 10 million in
2000
ii. Oil money spurred migration to
Lagos
e. The United States att racted the lion’s
share of immigrants, in part because of
its more receptive att itude
i. Mexicans made up the single
largest group of immigrants
ii. Asians numbers also surged
iii. The American urban landscape
changed in light of heavy
immigration, as it did one century
earlier
a. Los Angeles, which had been
primarily “white” before 1965,
now has a population in which
two-fi ft hs are foreign-born
f. Migration has unsett led many societies
from South Africa to the Middle East
i. Nations around the world struggle
with the issue of national identity
3. Culture
a. Globalization has created less global
diversity, but on the level of the
individual’s everyday experience,
the potential for experiencing global
diversity has greatly increased
b. New media such as cassette tapes,
motion pictures, and television provide
a global link between cultures
i. Cable television challenged the
dominance of “national networks”
a. MTV, for example, can be seen
around the world
ii. Television in particular globalized
sports
a. American professional sports
have increasingly att racted
foreign participants and
audiences
b. Michael Jordan is probably the
world’s best-known athlete
because of his commercial
endorsements
c. Soccer has become the world’s
most popular sport
c. Global culture
i. Migrants brought their culture to
new destinations and borrowed
from host cultures, producing
hybrid cultural expression
a. Reggae became popular where
West Indian communities had
moved in the 1960s and 1970s
i. American rap music
emerged out of this genre
b. “Latin” music emerged in the
United States
ii. World popular culture increasingly
became “youth” culture
a. Popular culture often
represented protest against
traditions or autocratic regimes
iii. Cultural mixing provoked
opposition in many regions
a. The French government created
a cultural ministry to combat
the influence of English on the
national language
b. Mullahs in Teheran tried to
curb the influence of what
they saw as secularization and
materialism
iv. The rest of the world has also
transformed American popular
culture
a. Music increasingly reflected
Hispanic and Caribbean
influences
b. Foreign sports figures have huge
followings
d. Local Culture
i. Migration has reinforced the
appeal of local and national culture
ii. National celebrities often attained
large followings among those who
had immigrated to other countries
e. The market for world cultures is
competitive and has led to more room
for diverse performers
i. The triumph of black and
gay performers among world
consumers marks major breaks in
cultural history
f. The globalization of culture has brought
many changes
248 ◆ Chapter 21 Globalization, 1970–2000
i. Global culture has become more
homogenous, but at the same time
local culture has become more
diverse
4. Communications
a. After 1970, a revolution in
communications aided the creation of
human networks among world societies
i. Satellites allowed for wider
television broadcasts
ii. The personal computer enabled
individuals to process words, run
a business, communicate with
others, etc., from home
iii. The Internet spurred the use of
personal computers
iv. New corporations such as personal
computer makers, Internet
providers, soft ware makers,
and dot-coms, generated whole
engines of wealth and power
and international networks of
production and exchange
b. The communications revolution has
integrated wealthier communities
together around the world while failing
to close the gap between the rich and
the poor
IV. Characteristics of the New Global Order
A. Population migrations, international banking,
expanded international trade, and technical
breakthroughs in communications created a
world that would hardly have been recognizable
to the inhabitants of the world at the beginning
of the twentieth century
1. The demography of globalization
a. The world’s population stood at 6 billion
in 2000, up from 3 billion in 1960
i. Mortality declined, especially
among infants
ii. Life expectancy increased
b. In Europe and North America,
population growth slowed, but
everywhere else it boomed
i. China and India have populations
over 1 billion
ii. The world’s largest cities are
no longer in Europe and North
America
c. Population growth is slowest in rich
societies and strongest in poor ones,
but in all societies birthrates have
declined
i. China has resorted to a “one-
child family” policy to hold down
population growth
ii. “One-child” policy led to an
increased imbalance of the sex
ratio partly because of prenatal
sex selection due to availability
of expensive ultrasound
scanners
d. Families
i. Defi nitions of families have
become more fluid
ii. Divorce rates have increased,
especially in the West
iii. More children are raised by one
parent
iv. People are electing to delay
marriage, not reproduce, and
marry for love at higher rates than
before
e. Aging
i. Longer life spans have also affected
family development
ii. Populations in many areas have
“grayed,” particularly in developed
countries
iii. Aging populations have become
dependent on the state for care
giving and fi nancial aid
a. In many areas, the state cannot
take up this burden
2. Health
a. The distribution of disease reflects
global inequities
b. Disease controls, antibiotics,
vaccinations, and healthy habits have
reduced the spread of contagions
c. What used to be universal affl ictions
centuries ago are now becoming
limited to particular people and
regions
i. For example, cholera, the result of
inadequate water treatment, still
breaks out in Latin America, sub-
Saharan Africa, and the eastern
Mediterranean
d. New diseases have appeared
i. Acquired immunodeficiency
syndrome (HIV-AIDS) is the best
example

a. Treatment is expensive, leaving
the poor and disadvantaged
vulnerable
b. The vast majority of people with
HIV-AIDS are poor and live in
Africa and Asia
3. Education
a. Access to education has increasingly
separated the haves from the have-nots
b. Around the world, men tend to receive
more education than women, despite
gains in the West
c. Lack of or disparities in education
increasingly continue to be drags on
sub-Saharan Africa’s and India’s efforts
to combat poverty
d. In the Arab world, the literacy
gap between men and women has
decreased. But Arab men’s literacy is
still 15–20 percent above that of Arab
women
4. Work
a. Women all over the world fi nd
themselves channeled into feminized
professions
b. The percentage of women at the top of
corporate pyramids does not reflect
their participation in the workforce or
their college graduation rates
c. Working outside the home has
challenged traditional roles as mothers
5. Families
a. To address inequities between men and
women, feminist movements emerged
in Europe and North America in the
1960s, then became global in the 1970s
i. In 1995, the Fourth World
Conference on Women in Beijing
att racted 4,000 government
delegates from 180 countries as
women increasingly struggled to
meet the challenges of economic
integration; 30,000 other women
representing nongovernmental
organizations (NGOs) also
attended
6. Production and consumption in the global
economy
a. Growth in population, the desire
for more education and better
health, the entry of women into paid
employment, and the promise of
Chapter 21 Globalization, 1970–2000 ◆ 249
rising living standards have resulted
in the accelerated production and
consumption of the world’s resources at
an astonishing rate
b. Agricultural production
i. The “green revolution,” or the use
of chemicals, vastly increased
yields
ii. Genetically engineered crops have
also expanded yields
iii. These agricultural gains have not
been spread evenly around the
globe
a. The United States produces
one-ninth of the world’s wheat
and two-fi ft hs of its corn
b. Asian rice growers have also
made impressive gains
c. Even in those societies, those
without access to non-farm
inputs such as chemical
fertilizers have not benefited
from the overall increase in
output
i. Many small farmers in
Indonesia and Brazil
are destroying their
environment in search of
cheap land in the rain
forests or mountainous
forestland
d. Production has not kept pace
with population in all lands
i. Since the 1970s, Africa has
experienced major food
shortages
ii. Much of this problem stems
from inadequate government
agricultural policies
7. Natural resources
a. Western nations, especially the United
States, consume a high proportion of
the world’s resources
i. Cities in the American West drain
water resources
ii. Energy consumption in the
United States has turned it into an
importer of oil
iii. The Gulf War was a failed Iraqi
attempt to shift the global
distribution of oil in favor of
producers, not consumers
250 ◆ Chapter 21 Globalization, 1970–2000
8. Environment
a. The depletion of natural resources
and pollution led to the growing
awareness of global environmental
problems that often transcended
borders
i. Acid rain in Europe and North
America has destroyed many
habitats
ii. The greenhouse effect, caused
by human-made carbons, is
contributing to global warming
throughout the world
iii. Car pollution causes serious
problems in large cities from Los
Angeles to Jakarta
iv. Many advanced countries now
export hazardous waste to
developing countries
v. The meltdown of a nuclear
reactor at Chernobyl inside the
Soviet Union in 1986 showed the
potential disasters in generating
nuclear energy
V. Citizenship in the global world
A. Supernational Organizations
1. Globalization has posed major problems
for nation-states, which supernational
organizations have dealt with
2. A variety of international bodies have come
into existence since World War II that have
impinged on the autonomy of all but the
most powerful states
a. The World Bank and the International
Monetary Fund have dispersed funds
and expertise around the world but at
the same time forced governments to
implement often resented policies in
return
b. Nongovernmental organizations
(NGOs), such as the International
Committee for the Red Cross, have
often become international forces
that rival the political power of nation-
states
i. Many NGOs came into being
during the 1970s to promote
human and democratic values
a. Amnesty International and
the Ford Foundation were
prominent in this area
B. Violence
1. International organizations and NGOs
failed to prevent violence at the end of the
cold war
2. In southeastern Europe, various ethnic
groups fought for control of regions after
Communist regimes collapsed
a. Dayton Accords (1995), coupled with
NATO air strikes, ended much of the
violence in Bosnia
3. Most warfare at the end of the twentieth
century was conducted within nation-
states, not between them
a. The worst political violence recently has
been in Africa
i. Hutus massacred 800,000 Tutsis in
Rwanda in the mid-1990s
4. Some societies have tried to overcome
political violence
a. In Latin America and South Africa,
many governments established “truth”
commissions to inquire about human
rights abuses so as to create bonds
between public authority and citizens
b. Democratic states have difficulty
preventing violence by nonstate actors,
as shown in the attacks on the World
Trade Center and the Pentagon
C. Religious foundations of politics
1. In India, Hindu nationalism has offered a
communal identity for a country rapidly
transformed by the forces of globalization
a. In the 1980s, the Indian government
deregulated the economy and allowed
for greater market mechanisms
i. These reforms widened the gap
between the rich and the poor
ii. Lower classes and castes formed
new political parties to challenge
the elite
b. In the midst of this fluctuation, right-
wing Hindu nationalists used religion to
fi ll the role once occupied by the secular
state
i. The BJP was devoted to making
India a Hindu state
ii. By the mid-1990s the party
was in power, but it did not
try to challenge the forces of
globalization
2. In other areas, religion provided a way to
resist Americanization

a. Many Muslims in the Middle East, both
clerics and Western-educated elites,
were critical of the intrusion of Western-
style materialism and individualism in
their societies
b. In 1979, an Islamic movement
overthrew the Western-backed shah of
Iran
i. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
emerged as the leader of the
country, bent on establishing a
theocratic state that returned the
nation to Islamic values
ii. Khomeini labeled the United
States, the shah’s backer, as “the
Great Satan”
c. The search for moral foundations of
politics has also affected Western
countries
i. In the United States, religion
became a powerful political force
in politics during the 1970s
ii. Conservative Protestant groups
in particular railed against
secularizing trends
D. Acceptance of and resistance to
democracy
1. More and more societies embraced the
notion that people had a right to choose
their representatives
a. China is the important holdout
i. Market reforms under Deng
Xiaoping, who succeeded Mao as
leader of the Communist Party,
raised living standards by the late
1980s
ii. Widening gaps between the rich
and poor and public corruption
fueled protest and demands for
more openness
iii. In 1989, protesters converged on
Tiananmen Square
iv. On June 3, the government
ordered a military crackdown
where thousands were killed
v. Although the Communist
Party remains in power, market
forces have created an urban
entrepreneurial class in contrast to
the rural poor
b. Democracy triumphed in Mexico
during the 1990s
Chapter 21 Globalization, 1970–2000 ◆ 251
i. The political clique that ruled
Mexico for decades lost support in
light of corruption and abuses
ii. Zapatistas, a group of Indian
rebels in Chiapas, rose up in armed
rebellion in 1994
iii. The Internet and the Cable News
Network (CNN) gave widespread
coverage of the confl ict and
international pressure forced the
government to abandon plans for a
military crackdown in the region
iv. In 2000, national elections toppled
the ruling party and Mexico
abandoned its one-party ruling
system
VI. Conclusion
A. By the end of the century, the world was vastly
different from the thirteenth-century world
B. In the year 2000, one could speak of a global
culture, although local traditions remained
vibrant
1. Increasingly, the nation-state no longer
defi ned collective identities
C. Globalization has created new possibilities and
greater inequalities
1. The disparities between the haves and
have-nots are greater than ever before
2. Thus as the world has come together, it has
also grown further apart
LECTURE IDEAS
The Fall of the Berlin Wall
Robert Darnton’s Berlin Journal: 1989–1990 (1993)
provides an eyewitness account of the collapse of the
Communist regime in East Germany and the legacy of
Communism on the people and countryside of this for-
mer Second World regime. It provides useful anecdotes
and analysis for a case study on the legacy of the Second
World system. Also useful is Peter Cipkowski, Revolution
in Eastern Europe: Understanding the Collapse of Commu-
nism in Poland, Hungary, East Germany, Czechoslovakia,
Romania and the Soviet Union (1991).
Immigration in America
David Kennedy’s “Can We Still Afford to Be a Nation of
Immigrants,” Atlantic Monthly, November 1996, Volume
278, No. 5, pp. 52–68, also found on line at:
252 ◆ Chapter 21 Globalization, 1970–2000
www.theatlantic.com/issues/96nov/immigrat/
kennedy.htm
gives perceptive data and analysis on which to base a dis-
cussion of the impact of immigration on students’ lives.
Global Warming and Globalization
For a lecture on environmental consequences of global-
ization, J. R. McNeill’s Something New Under the Sun:
An Environmental History of the Twentieth-Century World
(2000) provides useful information and a framework. Mc-
Neill’s view is truly global and explores the legacy of many
development projects, such as hydroelectric and irriga-
tion systems built in the United States, the Soviet Union,
and India, projects that “shouted” modernity at the time,
and their legacy for the twenty-fi rst century.
World Explorers
Chapter 10 opens with the travels of Ibn Batt uta and
Marco Polo and what their accounts tell us today about
the world in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries. A
nice comparison, and a fitt ing conclusion, could be an ex-
ploration of the travels of their modern-day counterpart,
Ryszard Kapuscinski. Kapuscinski wrote numerous books
and articles that are reflections on his journey through
time and space, starting as a child in Central Europe dur-
ing World War II to his years as a global journalist. Ka-
puscinski was admired as a leader among his peers for
truly seeing the world outside of his own skin. His death
in 2007 was mourned by many. He wrote about the Soviet
Union, the cold war, and his travels through Africa, the
Middle East, and many other places. You can read some of
the following texts to draw apt comparisons to these early
adventurers: Imperium (2007), The Soccer War (1992),
Emperor (2006), Another Day of Life (2001), Shadow of the
Sun (2002), and Shah of Shahs (1992). His many articles
for Granta magazine are available at:
www.granta.com/authors/114
Global Warming, the Result of Industrialization?
A discussion of global warming and the history of its dis-
covery—including the historical trend of industrializa-
tion and its impact on weather—is an appropriate topic
for the conclusion of this section. The following links offer
some reputable sources for further information:
green.nationalgeographic.com/environment/global-
warming/gw-overview.html
edgcm.columbia.edu/
www.aip.org/history/climate/
Global Capitalism
The intersection of global capitalism and the spread of
American culture is uniquely explored in Walter LaFeber’s
Michael Jordan and the New Global Capitalism (1999). It
also helps examine the rise of the black celebrity in today’s
global culture.
CLASS ACTIVITIES
Western Music Around the World
To launch a discussion of globalization and culture, re-
view MTV’s home page at mtv.com with students. Be
sure to visit the link to MTV Worldwide. Ask students to
explain the worldwide appeal of American culture. Ask
them to describe what kind of people enjoy MTV out-
side the United States. What is their income? Where do
they live? What kind of jobs do they have? Ask students
to analyze how American culture has been influenced by
globalization.
Music in the Age of Globalization
The following Web sites all provide numerous sound clips
to enhance a lecture on music in the age of globalization:
BBC: Essential Guide to Reggae
www.bbc.co.uk/music/bluessoulreggae/guides/reggae
Charlie Garcia
www.geocities.com/Paris/4823/
Hip Hop Directory
www.hiphop-directory.com/
Person of the Year
An interesting way to launch an exploration on world his-
tory in the 1990s is to review Time’s “Person of the Year”
choices for the decade. You can fi nd this information at:
www.time.com/time/poy2000
Compare the people currently highlighted with those
from another decade. Note the inclusion in the 1990s of
people associated with the Internet, computers, and tele-
vision. Ask students why Americans have placed so much
value on their influence.

Religion and Political Communities
To explore the use of religion to defi ne political communi-
ties, explore with students the home page of the Bharatiya
Janat Party in India:
www.bjp.org/
Ask them to analyze the use of modern technology to
reinvigorate traditional values. Can they identify similar
behavior in the United States or other countries?
International Monetary Fund
Another useful angle from which to explore globaliza-
tion and the rise of international institutions is to sponsor
a class debate on the proposition that the International
Monetary Fund should be abolished. Students need to
have background provided through a lecture or readings
on the institution and its role in global fi nancing. Ask
them to consider the question of national sovereignty and
global capitalism. Further, ask them to consider situations
such as the Asian fi nancial crisis without the IMF.
Global Demographic Mapping
Th is activity will be most effective if you use it toward the
end of the section on globalization. Refer to the Web site
Historical Atlas of the Twentieth Century:
users.erols.com/mwhite28/20centry.htm
for the map materials to create the activity. Break the
students into at least four groups (war, population, reli-
gion, systems of government), although you can make
smaller groups and add any of these data as well: agricul-
tural workforce, infant mortality, life expectancy, literacy,
telephones. On the site the shift in demographics over
the twentieth century is mapped out so that students can
look at the data on interactive maps. Have them study the
maps so that they become conversant with the material.
What do the maps tell them? Explain that they will need
to be able to speak as experts regarding their material.
After about twenty minutes of group discussion, have the
students come back together and then show a map with
one set of data on it. Let the students provide the other
data. What seems significant to them? What correlations
can they make? Over time do there seem to be indications
regarding urban populations and life expectancy, war,
and type of government? If each group has done its job
and contributes to the discussion, then each can supply
a piece to the puzzle. They may make connections they
would otherwise be unable to garner because of the huge
amount of material.
Chapter 21 Globalization, 1970–2000 ◆ 253
History and Social Activism
The music that students listen to today alludes to histori-
cal events and political upheaval. Th is is especially true
for urgent subjects such as globalization. Allow yourself
to learn something from your students and force them to
take responsibility for their education. Ask them to fi nd
music by one of their favorite musicians that is relevant to
the topics in this chapter. Have them download the audio
if possible, or a portion of it, and bring copies of the lyr-
ics to class. Depending on the size of your class, you may
have to let only a few of your students play their songs, in-
troduce the band, and explain the lyrics and their mean-
ing. You can give them the example of the rapper Kanye
West and his song “Diamonds from Sierra Leone,” which
was written two years before Leonardo DiCaprio’s movie
Blood Diamond. You can follow up with a portion of the
South African video Amandla, which shows how music
inspired the people of South Africa in the struggle against
apartheid.
RECOMMENDED FILMS
■ La Historia Oficial, (The Official Story) (1985, 112 min.).
Th is fi lm explores the aftermath of the fall of Argenti-
na’s military government in 1976. When adults rebelled
against the government during the military regime, they
disappeared. If they had children, the children were qui-
etly adopted. After the war, the families of the disappeared
struggled to fi nd their lost grandchildren, nieces, and
nephews. Th is story is set amid this grief as a well-to-do
woman begins to question where her husband acquired
their adopted daughter. Th is award-winning fi lm is in
Spanish with subtitles. It is slow moving, so you need the
time to show it all.
■ Memórias de un Méxicano (A Mexican’s Memories)
(1986, 46 min.). Th is is a montage of motion picture fi lm
footage taken at the turn of the century by the Mexican
journalist Salvador Toscano Barragán (1872–1947). He
was primarily interested in fi lming events of the Mexican
Revolution, and this documentary provides an array of ar-
chival footage from that time. It features leaders and key
events of the revolution that allow us to gain a picture of
how modern Mexico evolved.
■ Missing (1982, 122 min.). An excellent tool for intro-
ducing students to America’s role in Latin America, this
fi lm is a somewhat altered true story of the kidnapping
of the American journalist Charles Horman, after the
bloody Chilean coup of 1973 in which President Salva-
dor Allende was deposed and General Pinochet formed
254 ◆ Chapter 21 Globalization, 1970–2000
a military junta. Horman’s wife and father travel to try
to fi nd him but to no avail. The fi lm allows you to show
the American–Latin American connections, the violent
control of the official governments in places such as Ar-
gentina and Chile, and the legacy of colonialism and de-
colonization. As long as Pinochet was the leader of Chile,
this movie was banned in that country.
■ Russian Ark (2003, 96 min.). Using the art in St. Pe-
tersburg’s Heritage Museum, the director of this quasi-
documentary takes viewers on a surreal journey through
the history of a nation. It starts in the time of the tsars
and ends with the collapse of the Soviet Union, all shot
with the use of reenactors and the actual artwork. Th is
format provides a rich source of topics for classroom
discussion.
■ Salaam Bombay! (1985, 113 min.). This feature film
about the street children in Bombay is not the typical Bol-
lywood fi lm. The director hired actual street children to
act in the fi lm and tell the story of Krishna, Manju, and
other children living hand-to-mouth on the street. They
beg, they steal, they work, and they look out for each other
to survive. Th is fi lm allows you to cover economics, glo-
balization, the legacies of colonialism, cultural mores, and
many other topics.
■ Salvador (1986). This film is set during the Salvadoran
civil war and tells the story of an American photojournal-
ist trying to make his big break. In doing so he becomes
entangled with both the guerillas and the military gov-
ernment, putt ing his life on the line. The fi lm aptly shows
the complexities of life during this time and how easily
one could take a misstep. It also shows the involvement of
the Americans, playing shadow games behind the scenes.
Other major political players in the fi lm are the Catho-
lic church and the government’s unacknowledged death
squads. Archbishop Oscar Arnulfo Romero is shown giv-
ing a very political sermon; the fi lm does not show Romero
in a positive light. A later movie about Romero, who was
assassinated by the government, lionized his efforts to
help the people and to stand up against the government
and the plantation owners (see Romero).
■ Secret Ballot (2001, 101 min.). Secret Ballot is a simple
but amazing fi lm, set on an isolated island off the coast of
Iran. The events occur in one day—election day. The per-
son who arrives by boat to collect the ballots is a woman.
From that point onward, the fi lm challenges many rural
cultural norms. It helps us to understand the challenges of
changing traditions, what bringing democracy to a coun-
try entails, what women’s rights really means, and what
life is like for people in isolated parts of the world. It is a
perfect opening for a discussion of globalization.
■ Syrian Bride (2004, 97 min.). Syrian Bride was directed
by an Israeli Jew, but most of the cast were Palestinian Is-
raelis. Th is alone made the fi lm something of an anomaly;
it also helped to ensure that the movie was about the frac-
turing of lives that resulted from the establishment of the
Golan Heights and not about who is right. No other fi lm
has been so successful at articulating the messiness of the
borders and laws regarding citizenship in Palestine and
Israel. Th is movie about daily life should be mundane, but
the artificial borders won’t allow for it.
RECOMMENDED READING
Denise Lardner Carmody, 1989. Women and World
Religions, 2nd ed.
Jared Diamond, 2005. Collapse: How Societies Choose to
Fail or Succeed.
Paul R. Ehrlich and Anne E. Ehrlich, 1990. The
Population Explosion.
Frances Fitzgerald, 2000. Way Out There in the Blue:
Reagan, Star Wars and the End of the Cold War.
William Greider, 1997. One World, Ready or Not: The
Manic Logic of Global Capitalism.
Micheline R. Ishay, 2004. The History of Human Rights:
From Ancient Times to the Globalization Era.
Gilles Kepel, 1994. The Revenge of God: The Resurgence of
Islam, Christianity, and Judaism in the Modern World.
Walter LaFeber, 1999. Michael Jordan and the New Global
Capitalism.
Evelin Lindner, 2007. Making Enemies: Humiliation and
International Conflict.
J. R. McNeill, 2000. Something New Under the Sun: An
Environmental History of the Twentieth- Century
World.
Julian L. Simon, 1990. Population Matters: People,
Resources, Environment, and Immigration.
Peter Stearns, 2001. Consumerism in World History: The
Global Transformation of Desire.
, 2000. Gender in World History.
Chandra Talpade Mohanty, Ann Russo, and Lourdes
Torres, eds., 1991. Third World Women and the
Politics of Feminism.
Samantha Power, 2002. “A Problem from Hell”: America
and the Age of Genocide.
Spencer Weart, 2003. The Discovery of Global Warming.
Odd Arne Westad, 2007. The Global Cold War: Third
World Interventions and the Making of Our Times.
 Chapter 21 Globalization, 1970–2000 ◆ 255

WEB SITES International Committee for the Red Cross

Humanitarian site, including archival site with photos
African National Congress
and documents
Site for the political party that led fight against apartheid;
www.icrc.org/
includes archives for Nelson Mandela
www.anc.org.za/index.html International Data Base
United States Census Bureau global database on
Amnesty International population
Wide-ranging human rights activist site www.census.gov/ipc/www/idb/
www.amnesty.org/
International Monetary Fund
BBC News: Balkan War Journal Wide-ranging global information about economics and
Photojournalist’s insights into the breakup of Yugoslavia state of the world
news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/ www.imf.org/
europe/2001/balkan_ journals/default.stm
Internet Society
Children of Rwanda’s Genocide History of the Internet and other information
Presentation of child survivors of Rwanda genocide www.isoc.org/internet/history/
www.nytimes.com/library/world/africa/index-
rwanda-children.html MTV
www.mtv.com/
Feminist Majority Foundation Online
Population Reference Bureau
Social activist site
Global population data
www.feminist.org/
www.prb.org/
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Tiananmen, April–June 1989
Global data on food resources Images of events at Tiananmen Square
www.fao.org/ www.christusrex.org/www1/sdc/tiananmen.html
Fourth World Conference on Women UNAIDS
United Nations–sponsored conference site United Nations AIDS resource site
www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/beijing/index.html www.unaids.org/en/
Hip Hop Directory United Nations Global Environment Outlook 2000
List of relevant links UN report
www.hiphop-directory.com/ www.unep.org/geo2000/
Historical Atlas of the Twentieth Century World Bank Group
Interactive maps and data Global economic database
users.erols.com/mwhite28/20centry.htm www.worldbank.org/
IBM Archives World Resources Institute
Archival materials Site for environmental think tank
www-03.ibm.com/ibm/history/ www.wri.org/
EPI LOGU E
2001–The Present
▶ The New Millennium
▶ The United States, the European Union, and Japan
LECTURE OUTLINE
As the new millennium approached, people around the
world worried about Y2K and whether electronic equip-
ment, especially computers, would make the transition to
the year 2000. Not a year into the new millennium, the
attacks on September 11, 2001, led to a declaration of the
War against Terror by U.S. President George W. Bush.
The United States attacked Afghanistan in order to over-
throw the Taliban regime, which had harbored Osama
bin Laden, the person who had claimed responsibility for
the 9/11 attacks. When the United States then invaded
Iraq based on faulty intelligence about WMD (Weapons
of Mass Destruction) in 2003, the United States set a
new precedent in fighting a preemptive war. Other world
problems such as immigration have affected Europe and
the United States. Debates rage over what to do about the
growing immigrant population. Some on the right have
argued for anti-immigrant laws, fences across borders,
and mass deportation. Continued globalization has led to
outsourcing to new parts of the world such as India and
China. While Russia’s economy has rebounded, its move
toward democracy has been threatened by government
crackdowns and corruption. The Middle East remains
unstable in many places because of religious differences
and the rise of radical Islamic groups like al Qaeda. Africa
remains ravaged by disease and wars, especially in places
like Sudan. Latin America continues to see a widening
gap between rich and poor and problems of competition
through NAFTA. More countries are electing socialist
governments in the hopes of resolving some of the in-
equality. Worldwide, the recognition of global climate
change has led to treaties to try and control and curtail
256
▶ Russia, China, and India
▶ The Middle East, Africa, and Latin America
global warming. Changes in economics, culture, and poli-
tics will continue to encourage exchange and interaction
and bring the world together. But cultural and religious
diversity, economic competition, and limited resources
such as water and fossil fuels will also persist in driving
our worlds apart.
LECTURE OUTLINE
I. The New Millennium
A. Y2K
II. The United States, the European Union, and
Japan
A. September 11, 2001, terrorist att acks on United
States
1. Osama bin Laden and al Qaeda claim
responsibility
2. Global war on terror declared by U.S.
President George Bush
a. United States sent troops into
Afghanistan to destroy Taliban regime
b. United States invaded Iraq in 2003
c. Early offensive went well in Afghanistan
and Iraq, but then civil unrest as well
as discoveries about bad intelligence
on weapons of mass destruction turned
many Americans against the war
B. Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have left deep
fractures in U.S.–Europe-Russian relations
C. Europe became more integrated as the
European Union grew to twenty-five members

1. Two threats to Europe’s stability are aging
and immigration
a. European women are having fewer
children
b. Millions of immigrants, many who are
Muslim
D. United States and Japan face similar issues as
Europe
1. United States also faces an imbalance, with
aging baby boomers retiring
a. Growing number of Asian and Latino
migrants to the United States
b. Debates over English as the official
language and illegal immigration
continue
2. Japan faces tough choices over aging
population and immigration
E. Immigration continues to be cause for right-
wing political groups to gain footholds in
Europe
1. In recent years, anti-immigrant and anti-
Muslim sentiments, especially, have grown
stronger
a. Questions over assimilation
b. Foreigners remain the poorest and
unemployed
2. Terrorist bombings in Europe also turn
people against Muslim immigrants
III. Russia, China, and India
A. Outsourcing has become a way for older
capitalist societies to compete in the global
economy
1. Resentment causes tension in the countries
where outsourcing takes the place of
native-born workers
B. Russia’s economy is prospering, but its political
system is closing in on itself
1. Vladimir Putin increased restrictions on
the people
C. China
1. China’s economy is growing
a. Consumer goods sold to the West,
especially America
b. Fast-growing economy comes
with a down side of environmental
devastation, growing gaps between
rich and poor, poor quality of
commodities
D. India
1. Economy flourishing
Epilogue 2001–The Present ◆ 257
2. Political unrest between Muslim and
Hindus still a major concern
3. Ongoing tensions between India and
Pakistan
IV. The Middle East, Africa, and Latin America
A. Middle East
1. Region remains violent, with undemocratic
regimes feeding militant Islamic fury
2. Many reasons that radical Islam has gained
acceptance and followers
a. Arab world, except for the few countries
rich in oil, are deeply mired in poverty
b. Oppressive and dictatorial regimes
dominate
B. Africa
1. Radical Islam also growing in Africa
2. Region affected by terrible poverty and
diseases such as HIV/AIDS
3. Litt le positive happening in Africa
4. Darfur in western Sudan continues to
suffer genocide
5. Liberia ended its war and held elections in
2005
a. Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf became the fi rst
woman elected president of an African
country
C. Latin America
1. Gap between rich and poor is widening due
to globalization
2. Competition through NAFTA has left
many farmers poorer as their villages and
work have vanished
3. Left-wing governments have been elected
in several countries such as Bolivia, Brazil,
and Chile
D. Antiglobalization is widespread, but greatest in
the poorest parts of the world
V. Conclusion
A. 2007 G8 summit discussed global warming,
among other concerns
1. It’s clear that global warming must be dealt
with
2. Global warming has led to more natural
disasters
a. Hurricane Katrina
b. Tsunami
B. Changes in economics, culture, and politics
will continue to encourage exchange and
interaction. But cultural and religious diversity,
economic competition, and environmental
258 ◆ Epilogue 2001–The Present
particularities will also persist in driving our
worlds apart
LECTURE IDEA
Growing Global Disparities in Wealth
The growing division between rich and poor around the
world is an issue that will become more dire during the
lives of our students. An increasing awareness of this trend
would be a valuable topic and is intrinsically linked to
other heated topics, such as the immigration issue in the
United States, the rise of displaced persons globally, and
heightened warnings of terrorist risks. The atlases listed in
the textbook section of the Prologue provide good analy-
ses of many of these trends. There is also an excellent re-
port by Paul Collier and colleagues, Breaking the Conflict
Trap: Civil War and Development Policy (2003), portions of
which can be found at the World Bank Web site:
econ.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/
EXTDEC/EXTRESEARCH/EXTPRRS/EXTBC
TCWDP/0,,contentMDK:20265167~menuPK:477
810~pagePK:64168098~piPK:64168032~theSiteP
K:477803,00.html
UNESCO also provides some interesting source ma-
terials. In particular, it recently published the midpoint
progress report on the Millennium Development Goals.
Information can be found at:
mdgs.un.org/unsd/mdg/Default.aspx
CLASS ACTIVITY
Music and the Creation of Identities
Music is of particular importance to students today. They
have it with them everywhere: on i-Pods, downloaded on
their cell phones, or on their laptops. The rise of indepen-
dent recording is also changing the nature of the music
industry and with it the nature of musicians. They are
becoming att uned to global issues, from the environment
to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Have your students select a
favorite musician and song with a political or social mes-
sage. Ask them to bring the song to class in a format that
you can play for everyone to hear. Make sure that they
have the lyrics to read, ideally put on a screen or copied
for everyone. It is likely that you won’t have time for all
students to play their music and discuss the bands and lyr-
ics. But they should be prepared to do so and to turn in the
lyrics with a summary of the statement the song is mak-
ing, how they feel about it, and a litt le about the band’s
history. Caution them that you expect and hope to hear all
kinds of music: rap, country, screamo, or opera, and you
look forward to learning about each. You expect the same
respect for different kinds of music from them. Have them
consider the compositions and instruments the musicians
use as well. Many bands are venturing far and wide in re-
gard to instruments and musical style. As you and your
students talk about the music you hear, you are turning
over the history making to your students. You can dis-
cuss the lyrics, but you can also discuss mythmaking and
propaganda. The students have the opportunity to think
about what issues will become historical in their lifetime
and what their involvement in those events might be.
RECOMMENDED FILMS
■ No Man’s Land (2001, 98 min.). This award-winning
feature fi lm provides the opportunity to discuss a num-
ber of topics relevant to the twentieth and twenty-fi rst
centuries. Set during the Bosnian War in the 1990s, it is a
black comedy about two soldiers stuck in no man’s land in
a stalemate. The bureaucratic mess of gett ing the men out
of the trench involves reporters and pressure from around
the world, the UN, and individual and group pressure. It
allows you to discuss the collapse of the Soviet Union, the
Bosnian War, the changing role of the United Nations,
globalism, memory and mythmaking, comparative geno-
cide, and journalism’s new role in war.
■ When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts (2006,
240 min.). Th is heart-rending documentary by Spike Lee
gives voice to the survivors of Hurricane Katrina in a way
that no other fi lm director could. Angry and poignant, it
demands action. The documentary is an important piece
of twenty-fi rst-century history. It heralds what appears to
be a new movement among young adults, a sense of activ-
ism and responsibility for those around them.
RECOMMENDED READING
Dan Smith, 2003. The Penguin State of the World, 7th ed.
Joni Seager, 2003. The Penguin Atlas of Women in the
World, 3rd ed.
Thomas Friedman, 2006. The World Is Flat: A Brief
History of the Twenty-First Century.
WEB SITES
When the Levees Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts
Provides further interviews, teaching tools, and activist
sites for those interested in helping Katrina victims
www.hbo.com/docs/programs/
whentheleveesbroke/
 Epilogue 2001–The Present ◆ 259

Human Rights Watch Institute for War and Peace Reporting

The most respected source for information on human Devoted to the ethical training of journalists in war and
rights abuses peace reporting, truly global news source
www.hrw.org/ www.iwpr.net
Flashpoints: A Guide to World Conflicts United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Well-balanced reports of confl icts and potential confl icts Organization
around the world Devoted to global resource materials on these three
www.flashpoints.info/ knowledge areas
portal.unesco.org/en/