UNIT 1: THE GLOBAL TAPESTRY REVIEW

• oh hello and if I'm not mistaken you are a stressed out AP World History student studying for your unit 1 exam
• The time period for unit one is Circa 1200 to 1450 and the basic idea of this unit is to drop in on the various major civilizations around the world and understand how they are building and maintaining their state
• State


  A territory that is politically organized under a single government
• The folks in charge call themselves The Song Dynasty and they were in power 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


  Society is structured with prescribed orders and roles, 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, social restrictions including foot binding
• Imperial bureaucracy


  A hierarchical government entity that carries out the will of the emperor
• Civil service examination system

  • Bureaucratic jobs earned based on merit rather than connections, open to men of all classes but required wealth to study
• Chinese traditions and practices influenced neighboring regions like Korea, Japan, and Vietnam
• 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 and helping others attain enlightenment
• Economic developments in Song China

  • Commercialization, agricultural innovations like Champa rice, transportation improvements like the Grand Canal
• Dar al-Islam refers to the places where Islamic faith was the organizing principle of civilizations during this time
• Shift from Arab to Turkic Muslim empires

  • Abbasid caliphate declined, replaced by Seljuk, Mamluk, and Delhi sultanates led by Turkic peoples
• Continuity and changes in Turkic Muslim empires

  • Continued Sharia law and military administration, but no longer Arab-led
• Cultural and scientific innovations in the Muslim world

  • Advances in mathematics, preservation of Greek philosophy, House of Wisdom in Baghdad
• Expansion of Muslim rule in Africa and South Asia

  • Military conquest, merchant trade, Sufi missionary activity
• In South and Southeast Asia, the three main competing belief systems were Hinduism, Buddhism, and Islam
• Local beliefs spread easily in South Asia, much of the conversion that occurred was the result of Sufi missionary
• 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


  Innovation on traditional polytheistic Hinduism, with emphasis on devotion to one of the Hindu gods
• 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


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


  • Established in 1336 as a counterpoint to Muslim rule in the north
• In Southeast Asia, there were diverse sea-based and land-based empires that interacted with China and India
• Majapahit Kingdom


  • Powerful Buddhist kingdom in Java from 1293 to 1520, maintained influence through controlling sea trade routes
• Khmer Empire


  • Founded as a Hindu kingdom, later converted to Buddhism, Angkor Wat reflects this religious continuity and change
• By 1200, the majority of the population in the Americas lived in two major centers of civilization: Mesoamerica and the Andean civilization
• Aztec Empire


  • Founded in 1345, established an empire with an aggressive program of expansion, used a system of tribute states
• Inca Empire

  • Stretched across the Andean Mountain Range, had a highly centralized bureaucracy and the Mita system of required labor
• Mississippian culture


  • First large-scale civilization in North America, focused on agriculture, organized around large towns and monumental mounds
• The Swahili civilization in East Africa was a series of cities organized around commerce and trade, influenced by Muslim traders
• In West Africa, there were powerful and highly centralized civilizations like Ghana, Mali, and Songhai, driven by trade and with elite conversion to Islam
• House of Kingdoms


  • Series of city-states in West Africa, organized and grew powerful through trans-Saharan trade