Deck 3: F: State and Empire in Eurasianorth Africa 500 B.C.E-500 C.E

Question 1

The following have been identified as agents of historical change: ideas,policies,conflicts,inventions,contact with the outside world,population fluctuations,and environmental change.Discuss the role of these factors in bringing about change in specific third-wave civilizations in the millennium from 500 to 1500.

Answer 1

•An essay that focuses on ideas should discuss Buddhism,Confucianism,Christianity,and/or Islam.
•An essay that focuses on policies should discuss specific state policies that engendered the most significant changes.
•An essay that focuses on conflict should discuss the emergence of the samurai in Japan and/or the competitive state system that developed in Europe.
•An essay that focuses on inventions should discuss how Chinese inventions shaped developments in Eurasia.
•An essay that focuses on contact with the outside world should discuss the effect of trade routes (Silk Roads,Sea Roads,and Sand Roads)on societies that participated in those trade networks and/or the influence of China's radiating civilization on Central Asia,Korea,Vietnam,and Japan.
•An essay that focuses on population fluctuations should discuss the impact of the Black Death on different societies within Eurasia and/or the implications of population increase for China during the Tang and Song dynasties.
•An essay that focuses on environmental change should discuss the role of natural disasters in sparking rebellions (especially in China)and bringing about regime changes.

Question 2

How did empire,culture,and commerce link different parts of the world in the millennium from 500 to 1000?

Answer 2

•A discussion of empire should focus on the Mongol Empire or the empires that made up the Islamic world (ottoman,Safavid,Mughal,Songhay).Students should identify the different regions that were conquered by the Mongols or that were absorbed into Islamic empires.
•A discussion of culture should focus on any of the following:
oThe influence of Chinese civilization (Confucianism,writing system,Buddhism)on neighboring regions,especially Korea,Japan,and Vietnam
oThe spread of Islam,Buddhism,and Christianity
•A discussion of commerce should focus on the Silk Roads that connected the two ends of the Eurasian continent,the Sea Roads that connected the Indian ocean basin,and the Sand Roads that connected the Mediterranean world.

Question 3

Compare and contrast the emergence of Western Europe and the Islamic world as new third-wave civilizations that took shape during the third-wave period.

Answer 3

•Both civilizations lacked a single political center and were bound more by a shared religious culture than a shared state.
•Both were profoundly influenced by ideas and technologies borrowed from other civilizations.
•Each civilization was centered on a faith that helped to drive its expansion.
•The differences between the two were primarily a matter of scale,with Islam early in its history becoming the larger and more expansive civilization.
•Key to their differences was the fact that Islam embraced at least parts of almost every other civilization in the Afro-Eurasian hemisphere,unlike Christendom,which was firmly based in the region of a single second-wave culture.This made Islam a more cosmopolitan civilization than Christendom.