1200-1450 AP WORLD

• Developments in the 13th, 14th and 15th centuries

  • Trade Routes
  • Trade Innovations
  • Cultural Exchange (Syncretism) ex. spread of religions
  • The Plague
  • Decentralized governments (feudalism, serfdom)
  • Centralized governments (rise kingdoms and conquering empires)
  • Empire building
  • Growth of trade↔Growth of cites
  • Middle Classes grow with growth of trade
• Sundiata's Mali Empire


  • Connects salt and gold trade
  • Trans-Saharan Trade (Timbuktu, Mali Empire becomes a trading center)
• Mansa Musa


  Promotes Islam, pilgrimage to Mecca, Islam becomes dominant in Africa
• Syncretic religions


  Cultural blending of traditional African practices with Islam
• East African countries


  • Apart of the Indian Ocean Trade Network, not Trans-Saharan
  • Connected to Arabia, India and Southeast Asia
• Swahili


  Blend of Bantu and Arabic
• Ethiopia


  • Christian Kingdom
• Patterns in most Chinese dynasties

  • Neo-Confucianism
  • Fending off nomads
• Civil service exam


  Provides some level of social mobility, even though it is technically not available to everyone
• Buddhism and Taoism


  Reflected in the arts, nature showed in contrast to European humanism
• Value the community over the individual


  As opposed to European individualism
• Mongols


  • Establish the Yuan Dynasty under Kublai Khan, did not significantly change China's culture or spread their own, end up spreading the Plague but promoting trade
• Ming Chinese dynasty


  • Sought to embrace Chinese culture, Ming rule is seen as a Chinese cultural revival, Zheng He voyages, Ming adopts an isolationist policy
• Qing (Manchurans)


  • Overthrow the Ming Dynasty
• Feudal Japan


  • Daimyo
  • Shogun
  • Conflict between warring states
• Central Asian trade centers

  • Samarkand, Kashgar
• Silk Roads


  Creation of the caravanserai promoted trade worldwide
• Shinto


  A unifying force in Japan even though they are political decentralized
• Zen-Buddhism


  Syncretism Buddhism shaped by Japanese feudal values
• Rajput kingdoms


  • Decentralized states
• Chola and Vijayanagara


  • Hindu Kingdoms
• Hinduism


  Remains the dominant religion in India despite Muslim influence in the north
• Southeast Asia


  • Trade based kingdoms
  • Sea based kingdoms, Srivijaya (Hindu) and Majapahit (Buddhist)
  • Land-based kingdoms, Khmer (Buddhist in Cambodia)
• Islam


  Spread in Indonesia and Malaysia - Muslim trading societies
• Trade centers


  • Calicut, Mombasa and Melaka due to Indian Ocean Trade
• Diasporic communities


  Maintain their cultural traditions (Muslims, Chinese, Jewish) but are not in their homeland
• Political fragmentation in Southwest Asia/Middle East

  • Abbasyid dynasty declines
  • Rise of Turkic states
• Islamic rule in Spain

  • Cordoba/al-Andalus/Andalucía, syncretism with Islamic and Spanish architecture
• Seljuk Turks


  • Ottomans
• Central America


  • Aztecs, Chinampas (farming technique, floating gardens)
• South America


  • Incas (terrace farming/ Carpa Nan Incan road system, Andes Mountains, quipu knotted strings used for record keeping)
  • Mita labor system, cared for by the state in return for their labor
• Urban centers


  Centered around trade and religion
• Technology


  Made to develop to their geographic setting, ex. Terrace farming to take advantage of the mountains and the chinampas to take advantage of the lakes
• Europe (Dark Ages)


  • Conflict between feudal states
  • No interest in the outside world
  • No education needed
• Dominance of the Catholic Church


  • Anti-Semetism, Jews used as scapegoats
• Feudalism


  Political/social structure
• Manor System


  Economic structure, serfs self sufficient
• Position inherited through family

  • Kings → {Lords →Knights} (Nobles/Aristocrats) → Bergers (Middle Class) → Serfs
• Holy Roman Empire


  • In Germany
• Magna Carta


  Limited Monarchy (king and his government are not above the law)