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Key EventsAs you read this chapter, look for the key events in the history of early regional civilizations.

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• Muhammad and his followers spread the beliefs and practices of Islam.

• The development of trade throughout Asia, Africa, and Europe led to the exchange of goods and cultural ideas.

• In the 1100s, European monarchs began to build strong states.

The Impact Today



The events that occurred during this time period still impact our lives today. • More than 1 billion people around the

world are Muslims who follow the teachings of the Quran, and Islam is one of the world's leading faiths.

• The expansion of trade continues to create a global society, allowing people to exchange goods, services, and ideas throughout the world.

• The codification of Roman law, the emergence of common law, and the signing of the Magna Carta continue to influence our American legal system.



• identify how Arab, African, and Asian empires spread.

• list the basic tenets of Islam.

• list the accomplishments of the early African kingdoms.

• explain the influence of Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam, and Confucianism on the development of Asian civilizations.

• summarize feudalism.

• examine the unique civilization of the Byzantine Empire in the eastern Mediterranean.

Chapter Objectives: After studying this chapter, you should be able to:



The Arabs • The Arabs were a nomadic, Semitic-

speaking people who lived in the Arabian Peninsula, a harsh desert with little water.



• Early Arabs herded sheep and farmed on the oases of the Arabian Peninsula.

• Caravan trade expanded into Arab regions,

(pages 89–90)(pages 89–90)



The Arabs (cont.) • The Arabs trace their ancestors to

Abraham and his son Ishmael,

-who were believed to have built a shrine at Makkah (Mecca)

• The Arabs recognized a supreme god named Allah (Arabic for “God”) but also believed in other tribal gods.

(pages 89–90)(pages 89–90)



The Life of Muhammad

(page 90)(page 90)

• Muhammad was born into a merchant family in Makkah.

• Muslims believe that Muhammad received revelations from God while meditating in the hills.

• Muhammad believed that Allah had revealed himself partially through Moses (Judaism) and Jesus (Christianity)

-Allah’s final revelations were to him.



The Teachings of Muhammad

(pages 90–91)(pages 90–91)

• Islam is monotheistic.

-Allah is the all-powerful creator of everything.

-Islam offers salvation and the hope of an afterlife to its followers.

-Muhammad is not considered divine, but he is a prophet who conveys Allah’s final revelations.



The Teachings of Muhammad (cont.) • Five Pillars of Islam:

(1)belief–there is no deity but the One God, and Muhammad is his messenger;

(2) prayer–perform prescribed prayers five times a day;

(3)charity–give part of one’s wealth to the poor;

(4)fasting–refrain from food and drink from dawn to sunset during the month of Ramadan;

(5)pilgrimage–make a pilgrimage to Makkah at least once in a lifetime. (pages 90–91)(pages 90–91)



The Arab Empire

• The Mongols were a pastoral people who came out of the Gobi in the early thirteenth century and took control of much of the known world.

• Led Genghis Khan, Mongol armies spread across central Asia.

• In 1258, the Mongols seized Persia and Mesopotamia.

(pages 92–93)(pages 92–93)



Successors of the Arab Empire (cont.) • Mongol rulers eventually converted to

Islam and intermarried with local peoples. • They also began to rebuild some cities. • Cairo became the center of Islamic

civilization.

(pages 92–93)(pages 92–93)



Economy and Social Structure • Muslims live in accordance with Allah’s

teachings revealed in the Quran–humans should live as Allah has decreed.

• Islam claims that all people are equal in the eyes of Allah.

• However, such was not always the case in the Arab Empire.

• For example, the empire had a well-defined upper class of ruling families, wealthy merchants, and other elites.

(page 94)(page 94)



Economy and Social Structure (cont.) • The Quran granted women spiritual and

social equality with men.

• They could profit from their work and could own and inherit property.

• Islamic teachings, however, did account for differences between men and women in the family and social order.

• Men were dominant in society.

(page 94)(page 94)



The Brilliance of Islamic Culture

(pages 94–95)(pages 94–95)

• Arab scholars translated into Arabic–works by Plato and Aristotle

• The Arabic translations were translated into Latin in the twelfth century and thus became available to Western scholars.



The Brilliance of Islamic Culture (cont.) • When the Arabic translations came to

Europe, they were accompanied by commentaries by Arab philosophers.

• One of the most important Arabic scholars was Ibn-Rushd, who wrote commentaries on almost all of Aristotle’s works.

(pages 94–95)(pages 94–95)



The Brilliance of Islamic Culture (cont.) • Islamic scholars also made contributions to

mathematics and the natural sciences.

-they adopted India’s numerical system, which included the use of the zero.

-It became known in Europe as the “Arabic” system.

-Baghdad had an observatory where scientists studied and named many stars.

(pages 94–95)(pages 94–95)



The Brilliance of Islamic Culture (cont.) • Muslims also perfected the astrolabe,

-used by sailors to determine their location by observing the position of stars and planets.

-This instrument enabled Europeans to sail to the Americas.

(pages 94–95)(pages 94–95)



The Brilliance of Islamic Culture (cont.) • Muslims also developed medicine as a

field of study.

• Ibn Sina wrote a medical encyclopedia that stressed the contagious nature of certain diseases.

(pages 94–95)(pages 94–95)



The Brilliance of Islamic Culture (cont.) • Islamic art blends the Arab, Turkish, and

Persian traditions. • Its highest expression is found in the

mosques, which represent Islam’s spirit.

(pages 94–95)(pages 94–95)





The Emergence of Civilization

(pages 97–98)(pages 97–98)

• Africa is the second largest continent. It stretches for almost five thousand miles and is surrounded by two seas and two oceans.

• Africa has four distinct climate zones: a mild zone across the northern coast and the southern tip; deserts in the north (the Sahara) and the south (Kalahari); the rain forest along the Equator; and savannas (broad grasslands) that stretch across Africa both north and south of the rain forest.

• The four different climate zones have affected the way Africans live.



The Emergence of Civilization (cont.) • Farming gave rise to the first civilizations

in Africa: Egypt, Kush, and Axum. • Around 1000 B.C., Nubia freed itself from

Egyptian control and became the independent state of Kush.

• Kush was a trading state that flourished from 250 B.C. to A.D. 150.

• Kush declined when Axum, located in the Ethiopian highlands, developed into a new power.

• Axum was founded by Arabs. Eventually the state combined Arab and African cultures.

(pages 97–98)(pages 97–98)



The Emergence of Civilization (cont.) • One of Axum’s most distinctive features

was its religion.

• King Ezana converted to Christianity in about A.D. 330 and made it the official religion of Axum.

• Islam also impacted Africa. • By the early eighth century, the coastal

region of North Africa was under Arab rule.

• Several Muslim trading states had been established on the African coast of the Red Sea.

(pages 97–98)(pages 97–98)



The Royal Kingdoms of West Africa

(pages 98–100)(pages 98–100)

• Ghana, in the upper Niger River valley, emerged as early as A.D. 500 as one of the first great trading states of West Africa.

• The kings of Ghana were wealthy and relied on a well-trained army to enforce their wishes.

• Ghana had an abundance of gold, making it the center of an enormous trade empire.

• In exchange for gold, Muslim merchants from North Africa brought textiles, metal goods, horses, and salt.



The Royal Kingdoms of West Africa (cont.)

• Salt, used for preserving food, was also very important for replacing salt lost from the body due to the hot climate.

• Berbers, a nomadic people, used camel caravans to carry out much of the trade across the desert.

• Camels were well adapted to desert conditions.

(pages 98–100)(pages 98–100)



• The kingdom of Ghana, weakened by wars, collapsed during the 1100s.

• One of the greatest of the trading states that arose in its place was Mali, established by Sundiata Keita in the mid-thirteenth century.

• Sundiata captured the Ghanaian capital in 1240.

• He united the people of Mali and created a strong government.

• The wealth and power of Mali was based on the gold and salt trade; however, most people in Mali were grain farmers.


(pages 98–100)(pages 98–100)



• Mansa Musa, who ruled Mali from 1312 to 1337, was a rich and powerful king.

• He doubled the size of the kingdom and created a strong central government.

• His pilgrimage to Makkah was accompanied by thousand of servants, soldiers, and camels.

• Later he encouraged the building of mosques and the study of the Quran in his kingdom.


(pages 98–100)(pages 98–100)



• Songhai began to surpass Mali in the fifteenth century.

• Sunni Ali expanded the empire by leading his army on successive military campaigns.

• This led to control of the gold and salt trade.

• Under Muhammad Ture, the Songhai Empire reached the height of its power.

• Its chief cities prospered from the salt and gold trade until the end of the 1500s.


(pages 98–100)(pages 98–100)



Societies in East and South Africa

(page 100)(page 100)

• Islam influenced many of the small states and societies in eastern Africa.

• Beginning in the first millennium B.C., farming people who spoke dialects of the Bantu language moved into East Africa and the Congo River basin.

• They came not as conquerors, but as small communities.



Societies in East and South Africa (cont.) • The Bantu people began to take part in

the regional trade up and down the East African coast.

• The result was the development of trading posts including Mogadishu, Mombasa, and Kilwa.

• States formed more slowly in southern Africa.

• Zimbabwe was the wealthiest and most powerful state from 1300 to 1450.

• It prospered from the gold trade.(page 100)(page 100)

• Great Zimbabwe, Zimbabwe’s capital, was surrounded by massive walls built with granite blocks held together without mortar.


Societies in East and South Africa (cont.)



African Society and Culture


• The relationship between African kings and their subjects was not as rigid as in other civilizations.

• The king was held in high esteem, but he often met with subjects who had complaints.

• Most people lived in small villages. • Their sense of identity was determined by

their membership in an extended family and a lineage group.

• Lineage groups–communities of extended family units–were the basis of African society.



African Society and Culture (cont.) • While religious beliefs varied from place to

place, most African societies shared some common ideas, such as belief in various gods, the power of diviners to foretell events, and the importance of ancestors.

• In Africa, as elsewhere, art had religious significance.

• In the 1200s and 1300s, metalworkers at Ife (now southern Nigeria) produced handsome bronze and iron statues.

• They may have influenced Benin artists in West Africa who produced impressive bronze heads of kings and figures of animals.






China Reunified

(pages 103–105)(pages 103–105)

• China fell into chaos after the Han Dynasty ended in 220.

-After three hundred years of civil war, the short-lived Sui dynasty was set up in 581.

-This dynasty was able to unify China under the emperor’s authority.



China Reunified (cont.) • The Tang dynasty lasted from 618 to 907. -Tang rulers brought peace to northwestern

China and expanded their control to the borders of Tibet.

• Technological developments added new products.

• One of these was gunpowder, which was used to make explosives and the fire-lance.

• The renewed Silk Road thrived.

• However, the vast majority of the Chinese people still lived off the land in villages.



The Mongol Empire

(pages 105–107)(pages 105–107)

• The Mongols came from Mongolia, north of China.

• They were a pastoral people organized by clans.

• In 1206, Genghis Khan was elected (“universal ruler”) at a massive meetingin the Gobi.

• He devoted himself to conquest, creating the largest land empire in history.



The Mongol Empire (cont.) • In 1279, Kublai Khan (a grandson of

Genghis Khan) completed the conquest

-He established the Yuan dynasty in China.

-He ruled China from his capital at Khanbaliq (“the city of the Khan”), now known as Beijing, until his death in 1294.

• Under Kublai Khan, Mongol forces advanced against Vietnam, Java, Sumatra, and Japan.

• Only Vietnam was conquered.(pages 105–107)(pages 105–107)



• Landscape painting reached its height during the Mongol dynasties.

• The poems celebrated the beauty of nature, the changes of the seasons, and the joys of friendship.

The Mongol Empire (cont.)

(pages 105–107)(pages 105–107)



The Rise of the Japanese State

(pages 107–108)(pages 107–108)

• One reason for the difference in Chinese and Japanese history is the difference in their geography.

• What are some of those differences?

• China is on a large continent.

• Japan is a chain of many islands.



The Rise of the Japanese State (cont.) • In the 7th century, to keep out the Chinese

Shotoku Taishi, of the Yamato clan, attempted to unify the various Japanese clans.

• He wanted to limit the power of the aristocrats and portrayed the ruler as divine and as a symbol of the Japanese nation.

• Despite this, aristocrats still ruled the nation

(pages 107–108)(pages 107–108)



• A class of military servants called samurai (“those who serve”) developed to protect the security and prosperity of the aristocrats.

• The samurai lived by a strict warrior code known as Bushido (“the way of the warrior”),

The Rise of the Japanese State (cont.)

(pages 107–108)(pages 107–108)



• A nobleman named Minamoto Yoritomo defeated several rivals to set up a centralized state under the rule of a military leader known as the shogun (general).

-This form of government was called the shogunate.

-The real power was in the hands of the shogun, not the emperor.

-The Kamakura shogunate, founded by Yoritomo, lasted from 1192 to 1333.


(pages 107–108)(pages 107–108)



• In 1281, Kublai Khan sent warriors to invade Japan but a typhoon destroyed his fleet

-Japan would not be invaded again until 1945.


(pages 107–108)(pages 107–108)



• The power of local aristocrats continued to grow in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries.

• Heads of noble families called daimyo (“great names”) controlled large estates that were tax exempt.

• By 1500, Japan was nearly in chaos.

• A civil war, from 1467 to 1477, led to the virtual destruction of Kyoto, and central authority disappeared.


(pages 107–108)(pages 107–108)



Life and Culture in Early Japan

(pages 108–109)(pages 108–109)

• Early Japan was largely a farming society.

• Due to abundant rainfall, many farmers grew wet rice (rice grown in flooded fields).

• Trade and manufacturing developed during the Kamakura period.

• Paper, iron casting, and porcelain industries emerged.

• Trade with Korea and China developed during the eleventh century.



Life and Culture in Early Japan (cont.) • The Japanese worshiped nature spirits

called kami.

• They also believed the spirits of their ancestors were present around them.

• These beliefs evolved into the state religion known as Shinto (“the Sacred Way” or “The Way of the Gods”), which is still practiced today.

(pages 108–109)(pages 108–109)



Civilization in Southeast Asia (cont.) • Between 500 and 1500, emerging

organized states used Chinese and Indian models of government, adapting them to their own needs and creating unique states.

• Vietnam had been conquered by the Chinese in 111 B.C.

• The Vietnamese overthrew the Chinese in the tenth century.

• Vietnamese rulers adopted the Chinese model of a centralized government and called the new state Dai Viet (Great Viet).

• Dai Viet adopted state Confucianism. (pages 110–111)(pages 110–111)





The New Germanic Kingdoms

(pages 116–117)(pages 116–117)

• After the collapse of the Western Roman Empire, a new civilization emerged in western Europe.

• European civilization developed during the Middle Ages, or medieval period (500–1500).

• Historians used the term Middle Ages to refer to the middle period between the ancient world and the modern world.



The Role of the Church


• By the fourth century, the Christian church had developed a system of organization.

• Priests headed local communities called parishes.

• The bishop of Rome came to claim he was the leader of what was now called the Roman Catholic Church.

• Later Roman bishops came to be called popes, from the Latin word papa, “father.”



The Role of the Church (cont.) • The Church also developed a body of

doctrine.

• Church councils, including representatives from the entire Christian community, met to define Church teachings.




Charlemagne and the Carolingians

(pages 117–118)(pages 117–118)

• In 768 Charles the Great, or Charlemagne, became ruler of the Frankish kingdom in Germany.

-ruled from 768 to 814. -he expanded the kingdom into what

became known as the Carolingian Empire.

-This empire covered much of western and central Europe and was unsurpassed until the time of Napoleon.

-In 800 he was crowned emperor of the Romans by the pope.



Feudalism

(pages 118–119)(pages 118–119)

• But his fell apart soon after his death.

• People began to turn to local landed aristocrats or nobles to protect them.

• Nobles exchanged protection for service.

- This exchange led to a new political and social system called feudalism.



Feudalism (cont.) • At the heart of feudalism was the idea of

vassalage.

-It came from Germanic society where warriors swore a loyalty oath to their leaders and fought for them.

-The leaders, in turn, took care of the warriors’ needs.

-By the eighth century a man who served a lord militarily was known as a vassal.

(pages 118–119)(pages 118–119)



Feudalism (cont.) • By the 700s, heavily armored cavalry

(knights) dominated warfare.

• They had great prestige and formed the backbone of the European nobility.

• By the ninth century the land the lord granted to a vassal was known as a fief

(pages 118–119)(pages 118–119)



The Growth of European Kingdoms

(pages 119–121)(pages 119–121)

• The feudal system gave power to many different lords.

• Gradually, kings began to extend their own powers, and their actions laid the foundations for the European kingdoms that still dominate Europe.

• The political institutions created by one kingdom, England, impacted the formation of democracy in the United States.



The Growth of European Kingdoms (cont.) • In 1066 an army commanded by William

of Normandy defeated King Harold of England at the Battle of Hastings.

• William was crowned king of England and began to combine Anglo-Saxon and Norman institutions.

(pages 119–121)(pages 119–121)



• Henry II, who ruled from 1154 to 1189, enlarged the power of the English monarchy.

• He expanded the royal courts’ powers to cover more criminal and property cases.

• Because the royal courts were all over the land, a body of common law–law common to the whole kingdom–began to replace varying local codes.

The Growth of European Kingdoms (cont.)

(pages 119–121)(pages 119–121)



• Resenting the monarchy’s expanding power, many nobles rebelled against King John.

• In 1215 at Runnymede, John was forced to sign a document of rights called the Magna Carta, or Great Charter.

• The Magna Carta gave written recognition to the longstanding feudal idea of mutual rights and obligations between lord and vassal.


(pages 119–121)(pages 119–121)

• The Magna Carta was used to strengthen the idea that the monarch had limited power, and it later helped support the concept that individuals are entitled to trial by jury.


(pages 119–121)(pages 119–121)



• The English Parliament emerged in the 1200s

• It came to be composed of two knights from every county, two people from every town, and all of England’s nobles and bishops.

• Later, nobles and church lords formed the House of Lords, and knights and towns-people formed the House of Commons.

• The Parliament imposed taxes and passed laws.


(pages 119–121)(pages 119–121)



• After the death of the last Carolingian king in 987, Hugh Capet became king and founded the Capetian dynasty of French kings.

• The French monarchy’s power grew under King Philip II Augustus, who ruled from 1180 to 1223.

• Philip took back by force the French territories ruled by the English.

• He thereby greatly increased the income and power of the French monarchy.


(pages 119–121)(pages 119–121)



• As leaders of a new Roman Empire, the German kings tried to rule both German and Italian lands.

• Frederick I considered Italy the center of a “holy empire,” hence the name Holy Roman Empire.

• His attempt to conquer northern Italy was opposed by the pope and the northern cities.

• Frederick II wanted to establish a centralized state in Italy but met with the same resistance.


(pages 119–121)(pages 119–121)



The Crusades


• From the eleventh to the thirteenth centuries, European Christians carried out a series of military expeditions known as the Crusades.

• The Crusades began when Pope Urban II agreed to help Alexius I.

• The pope wanted to provide leadership for a great cause.

• He urged Christians to liberate Jerusalem and the Holy Land (Palestine) from the Muslims, whom the Church considered infidels or unbelievers.



The Crusades (cont.) • Only the First Crusade was successful.

The crusaders captured Jerusalem in 1099.

• The crusaders formed four Latin crusader states, which were surrounded by Muslims.

• These kingdoms depended on Italian cities for supplies from Europe.

• It was difficult for the crusader kingdoms to maintain themselves.

• In 1187, Jerusalem fell to Muslim forces led by Saladin.




The Crusades (cont.) • Historians disagree on the effects of the

Crusades.

-They certainly benefited some Italian cities economically.

-Perhaps the greatest impact of the Crusades was political.

-They eventually helped to break down feudalism, and strong states emerged.


Chapter Summary

This chart shows some of the defining characteristics of regional civilizations between 400 and 1500.

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