Chapter 13, The Worlds of the fifteenth Century

Major developments during the fifteenth century
- The Ming Dynasty in China (1368-1644)
- Timur's invasion of India(1398)
- Expansion of the Ottoman Empire
- European Renaissance
- Songhay Empire in West Africa

Paleolithic Persistence: Despite millennia of agricultural advance, substantial areas of the world still hosted gathering and hunting societies. Australia still practiced the gatherer hunter lifestyle and manipulated their area.

Agricultural differences: Far more numerous than hunter gatherers were those many people who, though fully agricultural, had avoided incorporation into larger empires or civilizations.

Civilizations of the fifteenth century( china and Europe)
China and Europe were far more densely populated , more powerful and innovative, and much more unequal in terms of class and gender.
Ming Dynasty- Reestablished the civil service examination system that had been neglected under Mongolian rule. Power was concentrated in the hands of the emperor himself.

European comparisons
Shared a similar process of demographic recovery, political consolidation, cultural flowering, and overseas expansion. Began to regrow the population after the plague.
Politically too, Europe joined china in continuing earlier patterns of state building.
Learned to tax their citizens more efficiently.
Launching outward bound maritime expeditions. (Christopher Columbus).

The differences between European and Chinese                                                                                                                                                               in terms of size China had far more shipps compared to the Europeans.

The most striking differences in these two cases lay in the sharp contrast between China's decisive ending of its voyages and the continuing, indeed escalating, European effort, which soon brought the worlds ocean's and growing numbers of the worlds people under its controls.
- China's voyages led nowhere.

SIlk, Sea, and Sand

Silk roads

- For 2,000 years, goods, ideas, tech, and diseases made their way across Eurasia on the several routes of the Silk Roads.
China- Silk, bamboo, mirrors, paper, ginger, etc.
India- Cotton, Herbal meds, precious stones, spices.
Mediterranean basin- artworks, gold coins glassware, grapevines, wool and linen textiles.
Middle east- dates, nuts, almonds, dried fruit, swords.

- Silk came to symbolize this Eurasian exchange system. China had a monopoly on the silk producing technologies. It was used as a source of currency and a means of accumulating wealth.

Silk was for members of the elite and not everyone could where silk.

As buddhism spread the silk roads from India to Central Asia, China, and beyond, it aslo changed. Buddhist monastaries in the rich towns of the silk roads found themselves very much involved in secular affairs.

Disease within Eurasia
Beyond goods and wealth came diseases that began to spread through Eurasia.
People of the culture would become immune to the diseaese but when foriegners came in the diseases would continually spread.
534- 750 C.E outbreaks of the bubonic plague spread through the coastal areas of the Mediterranean Sea.

Sea Roads

- Exchange across the Indian Ocean.
Sea-based trade routes connected distant peoples all across the Eastern hemisphere.
The Indian Oceanafter 1500's was the largest sea based system of communication and exchange. Stretched from southern China to Eastern Africa. The trade was different from the sand and Silk roads because these resources could only be brought by boat.

Med. Basin- Ceramics, glassware, wine, gold, olive oil
East Africa- Ivroy, gold, iron goods, slaves, leopord skins.
Arabia- Frankincense, perfumes.
China- Silks, porcelain, tea

Sand Roads- Exchange across the Sahara

- Long distant trade had an impact, stimulating and enriching west African civilization.
- Gold, Salt, and slaves were being traded on the Sand Roads.
- Used camels and slaves to carry goods for trade across the desert land.
- Sahara became a major international trade route that fostered new relationships with distant people.

The Worlds Of Islam

The Homeland of Islam and the spread of its Empire

The central region of the Arabian Peninsula had long been inhabited by nomadic Arabs known as Bedouins.
Mecca was the site of the Kaaba and was the most prominent religious shrine in Arabia.
Allah- was the supreme god
Yahrven- Jewish higher god
The revelations that were recorded in the Quran became the sacred script of Islam.
The Muslims everywhere regard as the very words of God and the core faith.

Following the law of god: a set of five requirements known as the Pillars of Islam.
1.) Absolute monotheism and the final revelation.
2.) Prayer five times a day.
3.) Requiring believers to generously give their wealth to maintain the community and to help the needy.
4.) Month of fasting-no food, drink, or sexual activity.
5.) Pilgrimage to Mecca

622 Muhammad and his small band of followers emigrated to the more welcoming town of Yathrid, also known as Medina.
- Supertribe.
All authority, both political and religious, was concentrated in the hands of Muhammad.

There was only belief in one god known as Allah.
Sharia: A path to water which was the only source.

Creating an Empire:
The new Arab state became a huge empire and stretched from Spain to India, and penetrated both Europe and China.
Defeated China in 751 and found military expansion a route to wealth and power.
"God gave us the victory over them."

- The Quran viewed Women as inferior and subordinate.

Personal achievement
  
Al-Khwarazim- mathematician, spead use of Arabic numerals in Islamic world.
Al-Biruni- Mathematician, astronomer, cartographer
Al-Razi- Discovered sulfuric acid.Ibn Sina- prolific in fields of science
Omar Khayyam- Mathematician using geometry
Ibn Rushd- Translated and commented widely on Aristotle
Nasir al Din Tusi- Founder of Maragha observatory in Persia
Ibn Khaldun- greatest Arab historian