HIST 401 - First Test
1. Account for the rise of agriculture in the Neolithic period and trace its global origins, diffusion and consequences, especially the rise of sedentary communities (6.1)
Agriculture developed in the Neolithic period by groups in Asia and Africa most predominantly. Nomadic groups sought regular food supplies, and over time domesticated animals and grew edible crops. It is thought that women were most likely the ones growing plants and men captured animals. The practice of agriculture and domestication of animals spread from concentrated areas in Asia and Africa outwards. With the surplus of food from agriculture, population grew and new concepts such as property, specialization of labor, social classes, and towns and cities appeared. Because they were no longer moving in search of food, societies became more entrenched in geographic regions and unique cultures began to develop. The development of agriculture during the Neolithic age is a perfect subject to use the historical thinking skills of cause and consequence, through the analysis of what factors lead to the development of settled societies and what those societies entail. The factors are not only human-made, but also biological, and can be related to McNeill's view on biological exchanges and how they drive historical events.
8. Account for how New World historians have characterized the broad patterns of decline in these Classical empires--Maya, Persia, and Gupta.
All three empires declined not only due to issues in leadership, but also cultural clashes within the empire and outside influence, not only other civilizations but those within the boundaries. The Maya, Persians, and Gupta all held many cultures within their boundaries, and quarrels between them created strife. New World Historian Phillip Curtin's "relevant aggregate" theory can apply here: that individuals within a state can identify with many groups simultaneously, and in the cases of empires, when the main authority begins to weaken, the relevant aggregates can break off into their own factions. Determining what is the relevate aggregate in terms of empire decline is part of the historian's job. Students can exercise their evidence and interpretation skills by determining which similar factors between all empires were the "relevant aggregate" in their downfall.
Compare "Hinduism" and Buddhism's origins, tenets, and role in society/governance. Explain how New World historians have characterized their diffusion and significance (6.5)
Buddhism originates from Siddahartha Gautama, who was a rich man who left the trappings of wealth to become a holy monk, and became "enlightened" once he began to teach that humanity must follow certain paths to be free from human suffering. Hinduism's origin story is similar in that it features a lone man who discovers the truth for human enlightenment. But Hinduism's largest tennant is that eternal salvation comes through unity and devotion with a god, whereas Buddhism's is that individuals must act morally and right in their own lives. Buddhism was popular amongst the lower castes because it did not advocate for a caste system, whereas Hinduism believed caste members had specific duties to be performed depending on what caste they belonged to. New world historians such as Lynda Shaffer and Donald Johnson credit the spread of both religions through trade routes throughout the Indian Ocean and into Northern Asia at this time. Shaffer's "Southernization" theory and Johnson's "Indian Ocean Trading Network" both recognize religious knowledge as just one of many things disseminated through trade. This is an opportunity for students to use periodization to understand what specifies the period Buddhism and Hinduism's dissemination through this time period.
15. Account for and discuss the "Indianization" of Southeast Asia in the postclassical period.
India's trade in the Indian ocean lead to the spread of culture amongst the entire coastline surrounding it. The trade introduced new foods such as rice and wheat, but Iron and copper as well. India itself became a hub of trade coming from China, the Mediterranean, and Africa. Due to its centralization, it was only natural that Indian culture became the lense in which other cultures filtered through in the Indian exchange. Shaffer's "Southernization" deals with the themes of Indian diffusion of culture, knowledge, and trade. The study of Indian diffusion could analyzed through periodization, as students can interpret what cultural, societal, and economic markers defined this period of Indian expansion.
11. Account for the spread of Islam in South and Southeast Asia and assess its significance in the Postclassical period (7.2)
Islam spread to India with the Afghan raids, as warriors captured northern cities. After the Mongol empire collapsed, the Hindu and Islamic civilizations mingled and exchanged ideas. Both religions in South/Southeast Asia borrowed and adapted from each other, particularly in recreational activities and the caste system. These cross-cultural exchanges lead to the new technology such as the mathematics as mentioned in Lynda Shaffer's "Southernization." The cross-culture exchange was so important to the world history that Johnson ("Indian Ocean Trading Routes") ranks it as an equal to the European trading routes of the later 1500s. This is an era in which students can study the periodization of, in the analaysis of what factors mark this period of Islamic expansion and exchange in South Asia and Southeast Asia.
10. Analyze the spatial and temporal origins and tenets of Islam, then discuss how Muslim empires and institutions in Afroeurasia became interconnected (7.2)
Islam's first practicer was a man named Muhammad, who was from the city of Mecca. He preached there that was one god, Allah, not the many that were worshipped amongst the people in the city at this time. There were five tenants of Islam: 1. Muslims acknowledge Allah as only god, Muhammad as his prophet. 2. Pray to Allah daily facing Mecca. 3. Fast during Ramadan 4. Contribute alms 5. Make Hajj if you are able. The caliph who succeeded Muhammad spread Islam across the Arabian penninsula and north Africa and Spain. However, subsequent caliphs fought amongst themselves, resulting the Sunni and Shia sects of Muslims, as well as the Umayyad and Abbasid Dynasties. The larger realm of Islam was open to all of the faith, leading to the dissimination of information as well as plants, such as wheat. The diffusion of Islam across the Middle East could be studied under the historical thinking skill of periodization. Students can analyze what trends and information spread as a result of this expansion, using the framework of patterns of change that Dunn supplies. The analysis of patterns of change illuminate the changes within the Islamic empire.
4. Account for and discuss how New World historians have connected Greek and Hellenistic culture and assess its significance to larger, global themes (6.4)
New World Historians such as Jerry H. Bently and Ross Dunn both discuss the Greek and Hellenistic cultures as part of the foundation of Western Society. However, Bently and Dunn both argue that Hellenistic culture's influence on world history as a whole is perhaps unfairly given precedence over other cultures of the same time, such as the Chinese, Arabic, Gupta cultures that produced extremely relevant ideas and inventions. Dunn's Western Change model alludes to Greek political and philosophical thought as a basic understanding of democracy and personal freedom seen in democracies around the world. Lynda Shaffer's argument in "Southernization" is that Asian contributions to world history in the forms of compasses, mathematics, trade, and technology is equally important to the historical narrative. These historians' viewpoints would be excellent to instruct students on evidence and interpretation. Each historian's viewpoint is based off of evidence of the social, cultural, and technological spread of cultures. Students can analyze based off the understandings present in the historical analysis of these areas, to understand why historians may interpret this differently.
19. Explain how the environment and technological innovations affect the growth of postclassical Europe. (7.6)
Postclassical europe saw huge advances in technological abilities. The compass, Indian numerical systems, and Chinese boat technology drove new exploration. Also, the Spanish conquistadors arriving in the "New World" were helped by environmental factors such as good winds, currents that helped them both leave and return to Europe, and weakened Native American populations with diseases. This was what McNeill refers to as the "biological exchange" that ultimately gave the Spanish the upper hand in the colonization of the Americas. Students can utilize the historical thinking skill of cause and consequence in their understanding of why Europe became very powerful in this era, and what the consequences were of this.
25. Account for the origins, spatial and demographic characteristics and impact of the transatlantic slave trade in Africa (7.115.4)
Slavery began when Portguese explorers first took African captives off the Western coast of Africa. However, the Portugese realized they could buy slaves from existing African kingdoms rather than capture them by force. The slaves were brought back to Portugal to be domestic workers since free peasants already worked there. However, they soon found that colonies needed labor for sugar in Europe. Slave men were brought to labor in the fields. However, these men needed to be replaced and in later years African women were brought over to have children and thus create more slaves for the Europeans. African cultures near the slave trade made money raiding their neighbors to supply slaves. Those on the eastern side were less likely to be affected. The large percentage of slaves brought to the Americas created an African diaspora of peoples who created their own cultures in the new land. They also actively resisted slavery, sometimes in open revolts. The spread of slavery is part of Jerry Bently's cross-cultural trade, not only in goods but in people brought to the colonies. Students can use the historical thinking skills of cause and consequence in examining the slave trade, and in so understand what the effects of slavery were and what caused the need for slavery in the first place.
18. Discuss how New World historians account for the change and continuity of the Byzantine state and culture and assess its global significance (7.1)
The Byzantine empire grew from the eastern half of the Roman Empire. It encompassed an extremely diverse set of cultures, from the Greeks to the Egyptians to the Persians. It also was one of the first Christian cultures to portray their ruler as divine. The Greek influence on Byzantine meant the New Testament was first recorded in Greek, and Eastern Orthodox Christianity spread. However, Islamic people also resided within the borders of the Empire, as well as Western Christians who did not agree with the teachings of the Eastern sect. The Byzantine Empire would fall under the Smith Johnson's Temporal framework, which studies the analysis of specific times and dates. Periodization would be a way to analyze this time period, as students could seek out what made the Byzantine Empire Byzantine, as remnants of it remain to this day.
24. Account for the Columbian exchange and discuss its character and global significance from both a transatlantic and transpacific perspective (7.11)
The Colombian Exchange was one of the most influential exchanges that occur across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe, Africa, and the Americas. On the Transatlantic side, ships brought slaves from Africa to the Americas, brought the goods from the Americas to Europe, and sent the empty ships back to Africa. Along this route, new plants and animals such as horses crossed into the Americas, as well as the population of enslaved Africans who worked in the Americas. The Europeans also brought back new foods to Europe, such as yams, as well as crops such as sugar and tobacco. On the transpacific side, Spanish galleons laden with goods from China and the rest of Asia returned to the Americas. Along the way, diseases were spread amongst the trade routes of Asia, Africa, and the Americas, reducing Native populations. The New World History theme of McNeill's, biological globalization, is apparent in the vast amount of plants, animals, diseases, and people being spread throughout the Columbian Exchange. An exercise for students to understand this era would be evidence and interpretation. Analysis of native habitats of plants and animals as well as locations were diseases began illustrates the amount of movement of goods and people occurring during this time.
14. Explain how the New World historiography accounts for the growth of the Indian Ocean trading network and discuss its character and global significance prior to 1500; contrast this historiography with the interpretations of earlier generations of historians. (7.2, 7.11)
The Indian Ocean trade network grew from India as a central place to trade, as the Indian empires, particularly the Maylay, who searched for gold along the African coast. Other cultures sent trade along the coast of the Indian Ocean as well, so Roman, Chinese, African, and Pacific Islander goods, people, and wealth passed through the Indian Ocean, making this one of the most important trade routes. Lynda Shaffer in "Southernization" argues that the Indian Ocean trading network was one of the most important in the world, and directly lead to later Western trade routes through the introduction of goods and technology that allowed later explorers to complete journeys in the Atlantic and Pacific. This contrasts with previous historians, who as Dunn says adhere to the "Western Heritage Model" of history, where the Indian Ocean is largely irrelevant in the progression of Western society. Students can use the historical thinking skill of historiography in their analysis of the Indian Ocean Trading networks, through a study of how historians analyze this exchange. They can learn how past historians saw it in comparison to the New World History, and why the Western Heritage Model may not have been the best method of study.
13. Explain how New World historians have characterized Mongol expansion and its broader significance in the Postclassical period (7.3)
The Mongol expansion not only brought much of Asia and Europe under one power, they controlled trade routes that were extraordinarily important in the larger history of the world, particularly Silk Road paths. Shaffer writes during this "southern hegemony," the process of Southernization occured as travelers from the southern Asian parts of the Mongolian empire brought new mathematical, religious, and technological ideals to Europe. Chinese inventions such as the compass also reached Europe during this time. The Mongolian control also fostered a reluctant peace under the lands they controlled, thus allowing the proliferation of trade. This time period would be excellent for students to study under the historical thinking skill of periodization, and how the Mongol rule defined this era.
7. Account for the Silk Road and discuss how the New World historiography has characterized its global significance (6.6, 7.2)
The Silk Road is one of the most important parts of New World historiography. Dunn's Patterns of Change model relies on the Silk Road as diffusing ideas and trade not only from China to the "West" but also the opposite way. The Roman and Han civilizations traded not only goods, but also ideas and technology. McNeill's biological diffusion also illustrates that disease spread along these routes, perhaps most notably the Black Plague. New World History's emphasise in the Silk Road as the connecting force of the larger narrative, taking the focus away from Europe and China alone (as Shaffer argues in Southernization, trade began in India and the African coast as well). The Silk Road provides an example for students to understand cause and consequence. The trading on the road provided cultures exposed to it not only goods and benefits through knowledge and power, but also drawbacks such as disease. Analysis of causes and consequences would help students understand trade on a global scale and make more sense of the Silk Road.
23. Account for the Spanish conquest of the Americas in the 16th and early 17th centuries and its significance (7.7, 7.9)
The Spanish conquest of the Americas began in the search for China, based on the new scientific theory that the earth was a sphere, rather than flat. The Spanish were a relatively small force, especially compared to the large empires of the Inca, Maya, and Aztecs living in South and Central America. However, Spanish weaponry and navel prowess was only a small part in their conquest: the biological diffusion of diseases brought by Europeans. McNeill's theory of biological diffusion accounts for the destructive power of diseases in the "New World" that were spread along trade routes as people moved. By the time the Spanish conquerors had arrived, the native populations were weakened by diseases for which they had no cure or immunity to. Students can use skills of cause and consequence in the study of the Spanish arrival in America and subsequent conquest of the native peoples. The analysis of what caused weakening in native societies as well as what happened once the Spanish arrived would be perfect to understand cause and consequence.
6. Compare and contrast the empires of Rome and Han China, their collapse, and the lasting contributions of each (6.6, 6.7)
The collapse of both empires was a result of internal issues that the respective rulers could not solve. The Han empire was a result of not only the ineffectual rule of the emperors, but also strife between landowners and peasants that eventually lead to open revolt. Generals tried to usurp the Emperor's power in both China and Rome. Unlike Han China, the Romans empire's size was much too large to effectively keep together, and eventually it was split up into Western and Eastern Empires. The Han generals divided China similarly, but into three parts. Both empires sought to regain some power, but their leaders were too ineffectual to keep the empire together. China's religion and culture remained however, while Roman religion disappeared into Christianity. This fall of both empires relates to Dunn's Patterns of Change model, where the histological framework for studying these periods is patterns that continue throughout the world, transcending national and social boundaries. Students can use this patterns of change model to analyze whether or not other great empires fall the same way, thus exercising skills of evidence and interpretation.
12. Account for the Tran-Saharan and East African maritime trade routes and discuss their impact on the economics, politics, and culture of Sub-Saharan Africa prior to 1500 (7.4)
The trans-Saharan and East African trade routes emerged after camels were introduced. They were brought from Asia and were able to transfer long deserts that horses or other animals could not. Muslim traders coming from Egypt and Nothern Africa brought wealth to the kngdom of Ghana, which became rich from gold mining in their kingdom. They levied taxes upon the goods coming in and out of the city, and became rich from the trade. The kings of Ghana became Muslim, which placed them under the larger umbrella of the Islamic world. This biological diffusion of camels changed the entire course of history. This is an example of how the biological effects McNeill described in his Biological Diffusion theory. Students can study the cause and consequence of the introduction of camels and Islam upon the African kingdoms.
9. Discuss the extent to which regions of the world were interconnected circa 300 CE in terms of economics, culture, and environment. Use specific examples.
The world was connected through trading routes, particularly the Indian Ocean trade routes that Lynda Shaffer discusses in her "Southernization" argument, and the overland Silk Roads. Both of these were extremely important to the commerce and economics of the empires they touched -- Gupta, Han Chinese, Greek and Roman, and African. Indian mathematics traveled to Arabic countries as part of the Southernization theory. Culturally, the spread of religion, particularly Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, and Judaism spread along trade roads but also diffused within empires. Buddhism spread amongst lower castes of India, and it traveled overland to China and Nepal. The interconnectedness of the biological diffusion, which is a crucial part of biological history that McNeill introduces, was linked by diseases that traveled amongst trade routes. Students can utilize their historical thinking skills of cause and consequence when analyzing the interconnectedness of the world's empires. Students can analyze the consequences of cultural, economic, and environmental diffusion.
2. In broad terms, account for and compare the rise of complex urban societies ("civilizations") and bureaucratic states in Eurasia and Egypt during the Ancient period (6.2)
With rivers, agriculture could develop rather than a nomadic society. People clustered along the Mesopotamian "Fertile Crescent" with its two rivers Tigris and Euphrates. Once people had begun congregating, the growth of cities began and with it, the rise of economic specialization, patriarchal society, social classes, temple communities and written culture. Economic specialization meant that not every citizen was devoted to subsistence farming, and arts and trades could develop, particularly in metalworking. This also lead to wealth accumulation and the rise of social classes and gender roles as societies' ruling leaders were for the most part wealthy, powerful men.The need for heirs meant women's sexual lives were under tight control to ensure legitimacy of children. Lastly, writing developed from the need to keep records of commercial and trading. The study of this time is an area for students to exercise historical thinking skills of periodization, in what factors make the rise of complex urban societies a different historical time than the Neolithic period before. This ties in to Deborah Smith Johnson's three historical frameworks, one of which is Temporal, which is not simply memorization of dates but being able to understand each time period in relevance to the others and how they connect.
