WW Ch9,11 &12

World of Islam 600-1500

This new religious empire of the seventh century c.e. drew from “Arab, Persian, Turkish, Greco-Roman, South Asian and African cultures” (412) to form a new civilization of Islam.  It “took hold in the cities and deserts of the Arabian peninsula” where the peoples were made up of clans and tribes who “recognized a variety of gods, ancestors and nature spirits.” (412) they were also known as the “Arabic camel-herding nomads.” Trade routes became a way of not only connecting the Indian Ocean with the Mediterranean Sea but “giving rise to cosmopolitan commercial cities” (413) which was one way to convert people to Islam. This civilization became a network of “exchange in which good, technologies, food products, and ideas circulated widely” (438) and brought forth the “Islamic Green Revolution” (439) thru the new crops and irrigation systems of the other regions. In the Islamic religion it is a matter of interpretation what has become a live long struggle because “the Quran authorized armed struggle against the forces of unbelief and evil as a means of establishing Muslim rule and of defending the umma from the threats of infidel aggressors.” (416) There are different interpretations of this one passage which has caused wars which we not only read in history but is also happening in current events.

The Mongol Moment 1200-1500

            Pastoral societies were known for their mobility, “they shifted their herds in regular patterns to systematically follow the seasonal changes in vegetation and water supply.” (516) Using their skills of horse riding transforms them into instant warriors and “sustained nomadic states… to extract wealth, through raiding, trading or extortion from agricultural civilizations such as China, Persia and Byzantium.”(517) Their way of life attracted peoples from other religions and was a way of living in which they did not inhibit any one area for a long time. The Mongols did not spread “no new language, religion, or civilization” (521) they just conquered by destructing areas from the Pacific coast of Asia to Eastern Europe, one of the “largest land-based empire in all of human history.”(521) At the reign was Chinggis Khan who ruled over the Mongol empire thru annihilating of entire states or families that did not follow him. He also acquires great wealth thru these conquests. In northern China the Mongols were able to invade in without much fight and acclimated to some of the China practices of “taxation and postal system”. Then as the Mongols became divided among themselves China was able to force them out and return to their homeland. In Persia the Mongols conquered with more force not only in human lives but in damage to the agriculture.  Yet interestingly in Persia the Mongols changed their ways of political processes and some converted to Islam and learned the language. In Russia, the Mongol’s conquest was different; there was destruction of cities and enslaving the peoples which was quite devastating with only a few cities saved from the Mongol’s wrath. The Mongol Moment of history was a time had good and bad; the exchange of peoples, technologies, and product brought forward developments cosmopolitan states. The bad was that it also brought the Afro-Eurasian Pandemic and wiped out “50 to 90 percent of the affected population.” (537)

The Worlds for the 15^th Century

Some peoples kept their Paleo gather-hunter traditions and formed “Agricultural Village Societies” (563) such as the Igbos in Australia and the Iroquois in North America. The Igbos actively trader with their neighboring states in “cotton cloth, fish, copper and iron goods, decorative objects” (564), they also made a change “from a matrilineal to a patrilineal system of tracing their decent...which the peoples in West Africa found central to their daily lives.” (564)  In North America the Iroquois peoples created an alliance among five nations, Mohawks, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga ad Seneca which  became a value system of “limited government, social equality, and personal freedom, concepts that some European colonists found highly attractive.” (565). During this time China and Russia were no longer rule by the Mongols, they had taken back control, in China new dynasties arose and in Russia structure of states had taken place. The Islamic World had now divided into 4 Empires, Songhay, Safavid, Mughal and Ottoman, of which the Ottoman became greatest. The Ottoman Empire had “huge territory, long duration, incorporation of the many diverse peoples, and economic and cultural sophistication.”(576) These four empire also known as “second flowering of Islam” (579) continued spread even further to Southeast Asia. In the Americas the Aztec and Incan Empire rose to power and although they did not have “extensive literary traditions” (593) most of what is known about them come from their drawings, landmarks and objects found. We also rely “heavily on the records and observation of the Spanish who conquered them in the sixteenth century” (593) go figure.