MARCO AP World review

• The Song Dynasty in China maintained its rule through long-held cultural traditions based in Neo-Confucian principles, such as filial piety, Buddhism, and a system of imperial bureaucracy
• Chinese belief systems influenced surrounding regions and Chinese innovations in agriculture and manufacturing enabled China to flourish economically and to expand its regional trade networks
• Although the Chinese economy grew more commercialized, it remained dependent on the labor of the peasant and artisan classes
• In South and Southeast Asia, societies continued to be strongly influenced by Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam
• In India, the Hindu caste system created and maintained a hierarchy of power, and various decentralized kingdoms competed with each other until the emergence of the Muslim Delhi Sultanate
• Mainland Southeast Asia was dominated by the Khmer Empire, which had its capital at the Hindu-turned-Buddhist temple complex Angkor Wat
• Many small trading states arose on islands across Southeast Asia, like the Majapahit, a Hindu-Buddhist empire of 98 tributary cities centered on the island of Java
• As the Abbasid Caliphate began to decline, new Muslim powers emerged in the world of Dar al-Islam and expanded their territories and influence throughout Afro-Eurasia by means of military excursion, trade, and missionary work
• The medieval Muslim world was dominated by the Mamluk Sultanate and the Seljuk Turks who ruled the declining Abbasid Empire
• Empires and individual states within Dar al-Islam fostered intellectual activity such as advances in mathematics and medicine and the preservation of Greek philosophy from classical antiquity
• Europe continued to be dominated by the same cultural forces that influenced it during the medieval period, notably Christianity
• Politically, Europe was decentralized and fragmented into smaller kingdoms or regions; feudalism led to distinct social and economic hierarchies, with lords, vassals, knights, and serfs each having particular roles
• Manorialism was the dominant system of organizing rural economies and often made use of the three-field system
• Absolute monarchs were developing more sophisticated forms of government, such as the British Parliament or the French Estates General, while still asserting their Divine Right to rule
• Much of North, Central, and South America was tribal and clan-based, but more well-organized political systems existed
• In North America, the Mississippian cultures exhibited great regional variation; most tribes practiced maize-based agriculture and had defined social hierarchies
• The Aztec Empire in Mexico thrived in large city-states such as its capital, Tenochtitlan, which had impressive architectural monuments and networks of trade
• Although they had no written alphabet, the Aztec had a complex system of ideographs through which they recorded historical events
• In the Andes mountains of South America, the Inca Empire developed a united monarchy and a powerful military, thriving during the century leading up to the Spanish Conquest
• In the west, the wealthy Mali Empire produced leaders such as Mansa Musa who built magnificent mosques and a library at Timbuktu
• The regions along the east coast of the continent were united by the arrival of Arab traders, whose language mixed with the native Bantu to create Swahili, and merchants traveled throughout Africa and beyond using the trans-Saharan trade routes as well as Indian Ocean maritime routes
• Existing trade routes between east and west along the Silk Roads experienced an increased volume of trade after the year 1200
• Improvements in business practices that benefited traveling merchants, such as the use of credit and caravanserai, facilitated new markets for luxury goods that crossed regional boundaries
• Major trading cities sprung up across Afro-Eurasia, including Samarkand and Kashgar in Central Asia
• In China, there was an increase in steel manufacturing, while across the region, artisans expanded their trade in porcelain and textiles
• Under the leadership first of Genghis Khan in the early 13th century and then others over the ensuing decades, the Mongols developed through conquest an enormous land-based empire that spread from East Asia to Eastern Europe
• Because of its vast size, the empire was split into administrative regions called khanates that were each ruled by a khan, or leader
• The expansive Mongol empire incorporated many different people groups across regions, making trade relatively easy and safe during the Pax Mongolica
• Commerce was further facilitated by the implementation of standardized weights and measures
• In addition to trade, the period of Mongol rule experienced cultural exchange such as the transfer of Greco-Roman and Islamic scholarship to Europe and intellectual innovations such as the development of the Uyghur script
• After 1200, existing trade routes through the Indian Ocean expanded and new trading cities such as Gujarat and the Sultanate of Malacca, became powerful centers of commerce
• The economic benefits of expanded trade facilitated the rise of powerful new states including Mombasa and Zanzibar along the Swahili Coast of East Africa
• Large diaspora communities emerged, especially Arabs and Persians in East Africa and Chinese in Southeast Asia, leading to an increased intermingling of cultural traditions and mutual exchange of ideas
• Innovations in technology, for example, the astrolabe and lateen sails, enabled travelers to more easily navigate maritime routes
• A more robust understanding of environmental factors, such as monsoon winds allowed navigators to travel more safely and confidently as they built up their networks of exchange
• The growth in interregional African trade between 1200 and 1450 was spurred by improved technology that facilitated transportation, especially along trans-Saharan trade routes that connected sub-Saharan West Africa with North Africa, Europe, and the Middle East
• Innovations in camel saddle technology, which made long-distance journeys much easier, and the ability of travelers to join groups of caravans encouraged interregional trade of gold, salt, and slaves
• In addition to goods, trans-Saharan trade routes enabled the spread of Islam in Africa and generated wealth for the Mali, Ghana, and Songhai Empires
• The increased connectivity in Afro-Eurasia between 1200 and 1450 led to a spread of literary, artistic, and intellectual traditions
• Buddhism and Hinduism expanded in Asia, and Islam expanded in both Asia and sub-Saharan Africa