WHAP Unit 1 Review

• State


  A territory that is politically organized under a single government
• Song Dynasty


  The folks in charge in China from 960 to 1279
• How the Song Dynasty maintained and justified its rule

  • Emphasizing Confucianism
  • Expansion of the Imperial bureaucracy
• Neo-Confucianism


  A revival of Confucian thought with some changes, including reducing the influence of Buddhism
• Confucian hierarchy


  A hierarchical view of society where those below must defer to those above
• Filial piety


  The necessity and virtue of children obeying and honouring their parents and ancestors
• Position of women in Song China


  • Stripped of legal rights
  • Endured social restrictions like limited education and foot binding
• Civil service examination


  An exam used to select bureaucratic officials based on merit rather than connections
• The kingdoms of Korea, Japan, and Vietnam were influenced by Chinese traditions during the Song Dynasty
• Buddhism


  A belief system originating in India, centered on the four noble truths and the eightfold path
• Differences between Theravada and Mahayana Buddhism

  • Theravada confined to monks, Mahayana encouraged broader participation
• Economic developments in Song China


  • Commercialization
  • Agricultural innovations like Champa rice
  • Innovations in transportation like the Grand Canal
• The term Dar al-Islam refers to the places where Islamic faith was the organizing principle of civilizations during this time
• Transition from Arab to Turkic Muslim empires

  • Abbasid caliphate declined, replaced by Seljuk, Mamluk, and Delhi sultanates
  • Turkic empires continued some Abbasid practices like Sharia law
• Muslim scholars preserved and translated ancient Greek works, influencing the European Renaissance
• Expansion of Muslim rule

  • Military conquest
  • Trade and merchant activity
  • Muslim missionaries
• In South and Southeast Asia, the three main competing belief systems were Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam
• Local beliefs is why Islam spread so easily in South Asia, much of the conversion was the result of Sufi missionary activity
• Main religions that vied for dominance in South and Southeast Asia

  • Hinduism
  • Buddhism
  • Islam
• By 1200, Buddhists in South Asia were mainly reduced to monastic communities in the North in Nepal and Tibet
• Hinduism remained the most widespread religion in India, but Islam became the second most important and influential religion in the region with the establishment of the Delhi sultanate
• Bhakti movement


  An innovation on traditional polytheistic Hinduism that emphasized devotion to one of the Hindu gods, making it more attractive to ordinary believers
• In Southeast Asia, it was mainly Buddhism and Islam that were competing for dominance
• The Muslim Delhi sultanate had difficulty holding on to rule and imposing a total Muslim state upon the majority Hindu population in India
• Rajput Kingdom


  • A collection of rival and warring Hindu kingdoms that existed before Muslim rule in Northern India, able to keep Muslim rule at bay
• Vijayanagara Empire


  • A major Hindu kingdom that rose up in the South as a counterpoint to Muslim rule in the North, established in 1336
• The Vijayanagara Empire was established because of a failed attempt by the Delhi sultanate to extend Muslim rule into the South
• The majapahit kingdom in Southeast Asia was a powerful Buddhist state that maintained influence through controlling sea trade routes, but declined when China supported its rival the Sultanate of Malacca
• The Khmer Empire in Southeast Asia was founded as a Hindu kingdom but later its leadership converted to Buddhism, as seen in the structure of Angkor Wat
• Aztec Empire


  Founded in 1345 by the Meshika people, it was the largest city in the Americas before the Europeans arrived
• How the Aztecs administered their Empire

  1. Created an elaborate system of tribute States, where conquered people provided labor and regular contributions of goods

  2. Enslaved people from conquered regions played a large role in Aztec religion, especially as candidates for human sacrifice
• Inca Empire


  • Stretched nearly across the entire Andean Mountain Range, was far more intrusive in the lives of the people they conquered than the Aztecs, with a rigid bureaucracy and hierarchy of officials
• Mita system


  The Inca system that required all people under their rule to provide labor on state projects
• The Aztecs were mostly decentralized in how they ruled, while the Inca were highly centralized
• Mississippian culture


  The first large-scale civilization in North America, focused on agriculture and known for their monumental mounds
• Swahili Civilization


  • A series of independent city-states along the East African coast, deeply influenced by Muslim traders and the Swahili language
• West African Empires (Ghana, Mali, Songhai)


  • Powerful and highly centralized civilizations, with the elite converting to Islam while the majority population held to indigenous beliefs
• Hausa Kingdoms


  • A series of city-states in West Africa, organized and grew powerful through the trans-Saharan trade
• Great Zimbabwe


  A powerful African state that grew wealthy through trade, but whose rulers and people maintained indigenous shamanistic religion rather than converting to Islam
• Kingdom of Ethiopia


  • The one Christian state in a sea of African states dominated by Islam and indigenous beliefs, with a hierarchical power structure