StudySpace: Worlds Together, Worlds Apart, 2 e.

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1. Introduction
1. Big river-basin states collapsed around 2000 B.C.E.
1. Environmental problems
1. Overuse of agricultural lands
2. Earth going through drying cycle (global warming)
2. Most of Afro-Eurasia suffered food shortages
3. Transhumant herders raided fixed settlements for resources
4. Urban centers faced political crisis
5. Parts of great cultures remained
1. Writing
2. Ideologies of kingships
3. Architecture
4. Skill at metalworking
5. Forms of transportation
6. Nomadic and settled communities exchanged beliefs and customs
7. New round of expansion and growth into larger territorial states
1. Mesopotamia
2. Egypt
3. Indus River valley
4. North China plain
8. Small-scale micro-states formed In other parts of the world
1. Pacific islanders
2. Aegean basin
3. Americas
2. Nomadic Movement and the Emergence of Territorial States
1. Environmental Change Led to the Collapse of Power of Kings and the Ruling Elite in Central and Western Afro-Eurasia
1. Walled cities could not defend hinterlands
2. Trade routes lay open to predators
3. Equestrian clans of pastoral nomads from the inner Eurasian steppes attack settled communities
4. Transhumant herders from the Iranian plateau raided settled communities for food and resources
2. Environmental conditions forced humans throughout Afro-Eurasia to adapt
1. Pastoral nomads and transhumant herders adjusted more quickly
2. Provided the historic catalyst for the rise of new, localized territorial states
1. Pharaonic Egypt
2. Mesopotamia
3. Vedic South Asia
4. Shang China
3. Used chariots and introduced forms of warfare
4. New states produced changes in society and government that allowed humans to survive climate change and thrive
3. Nomadic and Transhumant Migrations
1. Pastoral nomads
1. Rode horses across steppe lands of inner and central Eurasia
2. Herded a wide variety of livestock
3. Perpetually in motion
4. Covered tremendous area
2. Transhumant migrants
1. Lived closer to city-states and riverine society
2. Moved from lowland to highland areas with livestock, depending on season
3. Climate and landscape affected both groups
1. Drought affected nomads and transhumant migrants
2. Groups searched for water and pastures for livestock
3. Many migrated to the highland plateaus that border inner Eurasian steppe lands
4. Continued to more densely populated river valleys and competed with farming communities for space and resources
1. Amorites moved to southern Mesopotamia from Syrian desert
2. Indo-European-speaking steppe peoples migrated into Anatolia and eastern Europe
5. New arrivals opened up land for tribesmen
1. More immigrants arrived by foot and on wagons
6. Nomadic people spread out across much of Afro-Eurasia
1. Brought horses
2. Technologies to make war
3. Religious practices and language
4. New pressure on local resources
7. Migration caused major changes in the cultural landscape and geography in western Afro-Eurasia
4. Some migration took place by sea
1. Greek people migrated to eastern Mediterranean islands
2. Austronesians left east Asia to island-hop in the Pacific using large sea canoes
5. Nomads linked disparate cities and towns of South Asia and China linked by tribal clan relations and trade
1. Used force to control trade and maintain peace
2. Could not control how history would be written
6. Literate elites described the conquestors as "barbaric" and inhuman
7. "Barbarian" label stuck but is not historically accurate
1. Nomads and transhumant herders brought inventions and ideas adapted by settled peoples
4. Horses and Chariots
1. Horse first domesticated in late fourth millennium B.C.E. in steppes of Caucasus Mountains
2. Headgear developed for controlling horse's speed and direction In late third millennium B.C.E.
1. Tombs of nomads reveal evolution of horse headgear
3. Around 2000 B.C.E. a one-axle, two-wheel vehicle developed
4. Pastoral people borrowed transportation techniques to make chariots light enough to be pulled by horses
1. Spoked wheels required special wood and carpentry skills
2. Wheel covers, axles, and bearings were produced by settled people
3. Moveable parts made of bronze and later iron
1. Iron preferred because of hardness and flexibility
5. Horse-drawn chariots combined ideas and skills of both nomadic and agrarian peoples
6. Horse-drawn chariot shortened time between capitals and changed warfare
1. Slow-moving infantry gave way to battalions of chariots
2. Each chariot carried a driver and an archer
3. Mobility, accuracy, and shooting power of warriors made them more powerful than large-state armies
4. For 600 years, chariot warfare dominated war making from Greece to China
5. Only after the advent of cheaper armor after 1000 B.C.E. in China did foot soliders regain their importance
6. Elite copied nomads' chariots
1. Tutankhamen (c. 1350 B.C.E.) buried with chariot
2. Horse-drawn chariots also found in tombs of Shang kings in China
5. Pastoral Nomads, Herders, and Trade
1. Lowland pasture land on periphery of cities in riverine societies
1. Herders traded surplus meat and animal products for items from city artisans
2. When supplies unavailable because of environment or politics, herders raided cities to get what they needed
3. Droughts pushed them to move herds closer to riverine cities
2. Horse-riding nomads from steppes ranged more widely
1. Some engaged in long-distance trade
2. Moved on horse or camel and carried prestige goods
1. Goods included stone, textiles, metals, and silver
2. Raided or charged for protection of caravans
3. Archeological evidence points to important trade contributions
6. The Emergence of Territorial States
1. Power reached from cities to distant hinterlands
1. Great centralized kingdoms organized around charismatic rulers
2. People felt allegiance to their territories, rulers, language and ethnicity
3. Identifiable borders
2. New territorial states in Egypt and Mesopotamia gained authority
1. Divine monarchs
2. Large and widely dispersed bureaucracies
3. Elaborate and widely administered legal code
4. Large territorial expanses
5. Definable borders
6. Plans for continuous expansion
3. New political models replace competition and coexistence
4. Rulers created large-scale territorial states-governable zones
1. People identified themselves as belonging within territorial limits and against "others"
2. Welcomed the return of "government"
1. Restored and upheld order
2. Formal laws or codes
3. Good king was one that could command respect of neighboring states and bring security to his subjects
4. Often upheaval came with expansion and often brought security and innovation
5. Ecological and demographic upheavals contributed to creation of new territorial states
6. East Asia and Americas did not experience same developments
1. Fewer emerging states meant less rivalry
7. High-density states led to constant conquest and larger territorial states
1. Political map showed specific areas tied to different sovereign authorities
3. The Rise of Territorial States in Southwest Asia and North Africa
1. Five great territorial states of Southwest Asia and North Africa
1. Egyptians-eastern Mediterranean and Palestine
2. Hittites-Anatolia
3. Mitanni-Syria and northern Mesopotamia
4. Kassites-southern Mesopotamia
5. Middle Elamites-southwestern Iranian plateau
2. Egypt
1. Drought brought instability to Old Kingdom
1. Harvests withered
2. Pharaohs lost legitimacy
3. Regional power took place of a centralized state
2. Middle Kingdom Egypt (2040-1640 B.C.E.)
1. Floodwaters returned to normal
2. Rulers in Thebes consolidated power
3. Tamed rivals and coopted pretenders
4. New phase of stability
3. Gods and Kings
1. Twelfth Dynasty (1991-1783 B.C.E.) dominated Middle Kingdom
2. Amenemhet I (1991-1962 B.C.E.) elevated god Amun
1. Name meant "hidden"
3. Believers embraced Amun because attributes were largely hidden
4. Cult of Amun helped unify kingdom
5. Amun eclipsed all other gods of Thebes
1. Amun-Re
6. Cult of Amun had a strong spiritual impact on pharaoh and society
4. Royal Splendor and Royal Care
1. Build largest and longest-lasting public works
2. For 2,000 years slaves and captives built massive temple complex at Thebes to Amun-Re
3. Pharaohs reasserted power
1. Cult of the pharaoh as good shepherd
2. Instituted charities
3. Offered homage to gods at palace to ensure annual flooding
4. Performed ritual ceremonies
5. Merchants and Trade Networks
1. Rising urban class of merchants and professionals
2. Not dependent on kings for benefits
3. Outfitted their own tombs with material goods
4. Trade networks expanded
1. Wood, especially cedar from Byblos
2. Precious metals, ivory, livestock, slaves, exotic animals
3. Built forts to protect trade
6. Hyksos Invaders and New Foundations
1. Open to migration and foreign invasion
2. Commercial success attracted pastoral nomads seeking work
3. Amorite people from drought-ridden Syrian desert absorbed into Egyptian society
4. Hyksos destabilized and then assimilated into Egyptian society
5. Ahmosis in the south overthrew Hyksos and became the rulers
6. Rulers learned to be cautious of borders and use diplomacy to dominate eastern Mediterranean world
7. Migrants and invaders introduced new ideas and techniques
1. Bronze work
2. Improved potter's wheel
3. Vertical loom
4. New animals and foods
5. Weapons of war
8. New weapons transformed Egyptian army from a standing infantry to a high-speed mobile one
1. Egyptian armies stretched the kingdom
7. New Kingdom Egypt (1550-1070 B.C.E.)
1. Interests were projected outward
1. Expanded south to Nubia for resources
2. Hatshepsut expanded Egypt during her reign
3. Hatshepsut served as regent for her son Thutmosis III
1. Expanded trade to Levant, Mediterranean, and Nubia
4. Thutmosis III (r. 1479-1425 B.C.E.) continued expansion
1. Battle of Megiddo (1469 B.C.E.), the first recorded chariot battle
2. Thutmosis III defeated vassals of Mitanni
3. Anatolia and The Rise of the Hittites
1. Overland crossroads between Black and Mediterranean seas
1. Many large herding societies and clans made their home there
2. Lived in fortified settlements and engaged in regional warfare
2. The Old and New Hittite Kingdoms (1800-1200 B.C.E.)
1. Chariot aristocracies thrived on commercial activity
2. Great territorial state
3. Plundered and conquered neighbors
1. Taxed and collected tribute
4. Hattusilis I united chariot aristocracies
1. Campaigned throughout Anatolia and defeated resistance
2. Sacked Babylon in 1595 B.C.E.
3. Could not control homelands and new territory
4. Withdrew from Mesopotamia and left a power vacuum
5. King Suppiluimua I (r. 1380-1345 B.C.E.) regained power
3. Hittites eventually controlled much of middle ground between Mesopotamia and the Nile
4. The Iranian Plateau and the Elamites
1. Change in climate led to migration onto the Iranian Plateau
2. With help of people from the Zagros Mountains, Elamites ended the Third Dynasty of Ur in 2004 B.C.E.
3. Elamites and Amorites joined to form new dynasties in southern Mesopotamia
4. Other groups also moved onto the Iranian Plateau
1. Indo-Iranian-speaking Medes and Persians
5. Mesopotamia
1. Drought damaged Mesopotamia and the Iranian plateau at the end of the third millennium B.C.E.
1. Harvests were small
2. The price of basic goods rose
3. Social order broke down
4. Town in southern Mesopotamia were invaded by transhumant peoples from the Zagros Mountains and Syrian desert
2. Other environmental changes altered the human landscape
1. Intense cultivation
2. Periods of severe drought
3. Rich soil depleted of nutrients
4. Salt water from Persian Gulf contaminated water table
5. Branch of Euphrates River shifted to west and overtook arable land
3. Environmental changes pushed the political and economic centers north
4. Nomadic and Transhumant Migration to Mesopotamian Cities
1. Amorite pastoralists founded the city of Babylon in 1830 B.C.E.
2. Urbanites called the transhumant herders from the Arabian Desert Amorites
3. "Amorites" comes from Amurru, the Akkadian worked for "west"
4. Amorites generic name for all transhumant groups from western desert
5. City dwellers did not think much of these new rustic migrants
6. "Foreigners" in the city but not unknown people
1. During winters the herders had lived by the cities and the rivers to water their animals
2. Traded wool, leather, bones, and tendons with urban artisans for finished goods
3. Paid taxes, served as warriors and laborers on public-works projects
4. Migrant workers still had few political rights within city-states
7. Scarcity of resources because of drought led the Elamites and Amorites to conquer the city of Ur and set up new order
5. Restored Order and Culture
1. Restored order and prosperity enabled new kings to support intellectual and creative activities
2. The court supported skilled artisans and schools for scribes
3. Babylonians drew on earlier Mesopotamian achievements
1. Studied the oral tales and written records of Sumerians and Akkadians
2. Scribes transcribed the ancient texts and preserved tradition
3. Royal hymns portrayed the king as a legendary hero
4. Narratives about ancient founders gave legitimacy to new rulers
5. Great poems written in the Babylonian dialect of the Semitic Akkadian language
1. Identified the history of a people with king
2. Stories circulated widely and unified the kingdom
3. Most famous was the Epic of Gilgamesh
6. Trade and the Rise of a Private Economy
1. Economy became more private, entrepreneurially based
1. Private entrepreneurs collected taxes in commodities
2. Commodities were turned into silver and shared between collector and state
3. Gain in private and state wealth
2. Labor moved away from impressment to contract work
1. Workers no longer employed year round
2. Agriculture workers shared crops
3. Growing destitute and disenfranchised underclass
3. Mesopotamia was a crossroads for overland caravans traveling east and west
1. Peace helped trade flourish
2. Donkey caravans transported goods over long distances
4. Sea routes were used for trade with the Indus Valley
1. Many of the waterways charted by 2000 B.C.E.
2. Shipbuilders designed larger and larger ships
3. Shipbuilding materials came from all over the region
4. Reliance on imported materials was part of a more general growth of regional economic specialization
5. Doing business in Mesopotamia was profitable but risky
1. Poor harvests led to reduced taxes and debts
2. Caravans could be lost to hostile peoples
3. Taxes, duties, and bribes had to be paid to ensure safe passage
6. To reduce risk, merchant households came up with new techniques
1. Formalized commercial rules
2. Established early insurance schemes
3. Extended kinship networks
4. Formed strong ties to political authorities
7. Mesopotamian Kingdoms
1. Amorites used tribal and clan traditions to support ruling territorial states
2. New model of statecraft
1. Chieftains became kings
2. Mesopotamian kings turned authority to an alliance with merchants for revenue and support
3. Royal state became hereditary
3. Rulers continued to expand territories
4. Weapons and war techniques necessary to gain dominance but needed a charismatic leader as well
5. Mesopotamian kingdoms' power ebbed and flowed, depending on the strength of the ruler
8. Most famous Mesopotamia ruler was Hammurapi (Hammurabi, r. 1792-1750 B.C.E.)
1. Sought to centralize state authority and create a new legal order
2. Modeled his image after the Egyptian pharaohs of the Middle Kingdom-shepherd and patriarch of his people
3. Created Hammurapi's Code
1. Compilation of 300 edicts that describes crime and punishment
2. Offered rules for how the "family" should operate
3. Code divided inhabitants into three classes: freemen, a dependent men, and slaves
4. Code pacified the region and stratified society
4. After his death, his descendants ruled for another 155 years before Babylon was sacked by the Hittite king Hattusilis I in 1595 B.C.E.
9. Kassite Rule
1. Came from Zagros Mountains and across Iranian Plateau to Babylon around 2000 B.C.E.
2. Over time, integrated themselves into Babylonian society as bureaucrats
3. Filled power vacuum when Hittites destroyed Babylon
4. By 1475 B.C.E. Kassites reestablished order and ruled for next 350 years
5. Focus on trade rather than warfare
6. Scribes preserved ancient Babylonian texts
1. Preserved a Babylonian creation myth called Enuma Elish
7. The Community of Major Powers (1400-1200 B.C.E.)
1. Five great territorial states established an interregional system based on balance of power
1. Learned to settled differences through diplomacy
2. In Syria and Palestine, lesser states centered on single cities still existed
1. Jerusalem
2. Byblos
3. Damascus
4. Ugarit
5. Aleppo
3. Small states as vassals of larger territories helped maintain balance of power
4. International system of diplomacy created
1. Letter cache found at Tell el-'Amârna reveals how diplomacy was carried out
2. Treaties, marriages, exchange of specialized personnel, and gifts all played roles
5. International relations led to the creation of an elite cosmopolitan merchant and political class
1. Spoke Akkadian dialect
2. Used fortunes to erect buildings, decorate tomb and consume material goods
6. State still vulnerable to unhappy commoners who could not pay taxes
4. Nomads and the Indus River Valley
1. Drought hit Indus River Valley
1. Vedic people migrated around 1500 B.C.E. to Indus River valley
1. Call themselves Aryans, or "respected ones"
2. Spoke Sanskrit
2. Brought domesticated animals, especially horses
1. Horses drew chariots and gave Vedic superior military
3. Brought elaborate rituals for worshipping gods
2. Vedic Peoples and Indigenous Peoples Exchanged Language and Customs
3. Vedic People Migrated out from Indus Valley
1. Each wave of occupation was accompanied by violence
2. Adapted farming skills and knowledge of seasonal weather
1. Moved into huts constructed from mud, bamboo, and reeds
2. Refined production of carnelian stone beads
3. Devised standard weights for trade
4. Planted wheat, rye, and rice
5. Mastered the use of plows with iron blades
4. Turn to Settled Agriculture from Pastoralism
1. Combined traits from the steppe lands with indigenous ways
5. Rise of the Shang State (1600-1045 B.C.E.)
1. Around 1600 B.C.E., the Shang territorial state emerged
1. Shang developed foundation myths to unify state
1. Stories collected in the "Bamboo Annals"
2. Tang, first ruler of the Shang dynasty, defeated Xia king
3. Tang ruled justly and morally, uniting his people
2. Shang state was not so clearly defined geographically as territorial kingdoms of Southwest Asia
1. No territorial state encroached on its peripheries
2. Capital moved as territory expanded
3. Relative security allowed for kings' to rule in a highly personal way
4. Shang rulers used metallurgy and writing to reinforce rule
1. Ancestor worship
2. Divination
3. Other rituals
2. State Formation
1. Shang state grew out of the small agricultural and riverine village cultures of the Longshan people, who had introduced elements of a state
1. Metal industry based on copper
2. Pottery making
3. Standardized architectural forms and walled towns
4. Divination using animal bones
2. Shang dynasty added other elements
1. A lineage of hereditary rulers whose power was based on ancestors and gods
2. Written records
3. Tribute
4. Elaborate rituals that enabled them to commune with ancestors and foretell the future
3. Shang dynasty got name from location, temple, and city
1. Expanded borders using horses and chariots
1. Horses and chariots came by way of nomadic contacts
4. Several other states developed between 1500 and 1300 B.C.E.
1. Shang traded with the "Fang" states (non-Shang)
2. Shang state never as centralized as Egypt or Babylon
5. Historian Sima Qian (c. 145-86 B.C.E.) claimed the Shang capital moved six times
6. Shang's golden-age capital at Yin
1. Close to metal resources for making bronze
2. Erected massive palaces, royal neighborhoods, and bronze foundries
3. State supported artisan workshops
4. State collected tribute from surrounding farmlands
5. Promoted writing by scribes and production by common artisans
3. Metalworking, Agriculture, and Tribute
1. Small-scale metalworking first happened in northwestern China
2. Both copper and tin readily available, so only short-distance trade needed
3. Shang used their access to metals to control neighbors
1. Made weapons, fittings for chariots, and ritual vessels
2. Used hollow clay molds
3. Cast parts and assembled huge objects
1. Anyang tombs held vessels weighing 1,925 lbs (873 kgs.) some over 3,500 lbs (1588 kgs.)
4. Bronze culture emerged in second millennium B.C.E.
1. Mining
2. Efficient casting
3. Reproducible artistic style
4. Artists valued; miners treated as tribute laborers
5. Shang kings stopped rivals from forging bronze weapons
1. Control of bronze led to stronger military
2. Royal feats depicted on bronze vessels
1. Battles
2. Weddings
3. Births of heirs
4. Divine acts
6. Agriculture also important in maintaining power
1. Rulers controlled own farm for food for royal family
2. New technologies led to rise in food production
1. Opened up more land by draining low-lying fields or forests
2. Farm tools such as stone plows, spades, and sickles
3. Cultivated silkworms and other animals
4. Tracked growing seasons
5. Shang developed twelve-month calendar
7. Wealth and power of rulers depended on tribute from elites and allies
1. Elites supplied warriors, laborers, horses, and cattle
2. Allies sent valuable goods and assisted king
3. Commoners sent tribute to the elite, who held land as fiefs from king
4. Commoners also made labor (corvée) payments
5. Tribute could also be turtle shells or cattle scapulas used for divination
4. Shang Society and Beliefs
1. Complex social structure emerged
2. Organizing principle was a patrilineal ideal
1. Descent was traced back to common male ancestor
3. Property held in common
4. Male family elders took precedence
5. Women married into husband's family
1. Won honor for bearing sons
6. Death rituals reflected social hierarchy
1. Humans sacrificed to accompany elites to afterlife
2. Inclusion of slaves and servants shows that hierarchy expected an afterlife
3. Economy not slave based but based on tribute labor of commoners
7. Shang state patrimonial theocracy
1. Ruler gained authority through ancestors and gods
2. Needed a way to communicate with ancestors
1. Divined through cracks in burned animal bones
2. Crack were interpreted and scribes inscribed queries on the bones
3. Shang writing began as a dramatic ritual performance
8. Shang ruler head of a unified clergy
1. No independent priesthood as in Egypt or Mesopotamia
2. Diviners and scribes subservient to ruler
3. Ancestor worship sanctified Shang control and legitimized the lineage of rulers
9. Shang gods were ancestral deities
1. Shang rulers were deified when they died
2. Primary Shang deity was Di, the High God (Shangdi), founder of Shang dynasty
3. Shang ruler who became a god was closer to the world of humans than Egyptian or Mesopotamian gods
5. The Development of Writing in China
1. Shang scholars perfected writing
1. Oracle bones primary evidence for Chinese early writing
2. Other forms of writing may not have survived
3. Accidents of preservation may be why China and Southwest Asia differ in types of ancient texts
2. Oracle bones and bronzes show Shang surpassed other states in ability to leave records
1. Did not extend to the writing of literature
3. Shang kings used writing to reinforce position at the top of royal hierarchy
4. Priests used writings to address the "other world" and predict the future
1. Divinations were especially used for predicting rainfall
5. Many rituals and bureaucratic routines depended on writing
6. Archaic script evolved into the preclassical script, which was a precursor to the formal character-based system used in China, Japan, Korea and Vietnam
6. The South Pacific (2500 B.C.E.-400 C.E.)
1. People migrated from the Mainland of East Asia for Opportunities and Refuge
1. Languages in Taiwan, the Philippines, and Indonesia had origins in South China
2. Several waves of migration
3. By 2000 B.C.E. migrants had replaced the Negritos, the earlier inhabitants
1. Negritos had left Asian continent around 28,000 B.C.E. when the Pacific Islands were still connected
4. Used double-outrigger canoes, 60 to 100 feet long, with triangular sails, to cross Taiwan Straits
1. Vessels major advance over dugout canoes
2. Could travel 120 miles in a day
3. Used a stabilization device for deep-sea sailing
5. By 400 C.E., migrant had reach most of the South Pacific
2. Sailing Skills Enabled the Austronesians to Monopolize Trade
1. Specialized craft workers included potters from the Lapita culture who made Lapita pottery
2. Canoe-building people were interisland traders
3. Pottery, stone tools, and domesticated crops and pigs characterize Austronesian settlements
1. Cultural markers are spread throughout Pacific islands
2. On some islands, the migrants failed to reach the interior and indigenous Negritos still survived
4. South Pacific islands' climate and soil provide good places to raise crops
1. Austronesians successfully raised crops
1. Dry crops (taro, yams, and sweet potatoes)
2. Irrigated crops (taro)
3. Tree crops (breadfruit, bananas, coconuts)
2. Other islands such as Indonesia provided maritime resources
3. Island-hopping led to new food sources
5. Polynesians, "belonging to many islands," shared a common culture, language, and technology, as well as domesticated plants and animals
1. Crop surpluses allowed for larger populated communities
2. Larger communities supported craft specialist and soldiers
3. Almost every settlement created ceremonial buildings to promote unity
4. Politically, Polynesian communities ranged from tribes to multi-island alliances
6. In 200 C.E., Austronesians reached the Marquesas Islands in central Pacific
1. Migrated from there to Easter Island and Hawaii, later Madagascar
1. On Easter Island, they built 30-ton stone structures
2. Brought bananas to East Africa
7. Even with trade, the archipelagos remained apart from mainland culture
7. The Aegean in the Second Millennium B.C.E.
1. No central government emerged probably because of the geography, which resembled that of the South Pacific
1. No large regime to collapse with the droughts that came
2. Enjoyed gradual development during second millennium B.C.E.
3. Absorbed influences through trade from Southwest Asia, Africa, and Europe
4. Many migrants from the north moved into area-some peaceable, some violent
5. One group named the Mycenaeans, after palace at Mycenae
1. Looked to sea for resources and interactions with neighbors
2. Seaborne Trade and Communication
1. Many influences to Aegean world came by water from Southwest Asia
2. Trade was the main bearer of eastern influences
3. Trade centered on tin and copper
3. Cyprus, the largest island in the eastern Mediterranean, became the center of trade
1. Had large reserves of copper ore, shipped out to Crete, Mari, and Egypt
2. English word copper derived from "Cyprus"
4. Crete active trade hub in the Mediterranean
1. Around 2000 B.C.E., many large palace centers emerged at Knossos and elsewhere
2. People named Minoans, after legendary King Minos
3. Traded and colonized around Aegean
4. Minoans' wealth led to takeover by Mycenaeans in 1400 B.C.E.
5. Minoan Culture
1. Small-scale monumental architecture echoed Southwest Asian examples
1. Palace complexes built between 1900 and 1600 B.C.E.
1. Knossos most impressive example
2. Religion differed from those of other mainland cultures
1. Island worship focused on a female deity, "the Lady"
2. No large scale temple complexes
3. No priestly class
4. Debate over whether there were full-time scribes
3. Complex development on some islands
1. Thera had large private houses with bathrooms
1. Toilets, running water, and exotic wall paintings
2. Palaces in Crete had little defense and were light and airy
6. Mycenaean Culture
1. Migrated from central Europe to Greece between 1850 and 1600 B.C.E.
2. Brought Indo-European language, horse-drawn chariots, and metalworking skills
3. Came to dominate the indigenous population
4. Used their chariots to dominate
1. Chariot stories described in epic poetry
5. Mycenaean population centers oriented toward war and conflict
1. Less refined material culture than Minoan
2. Emphasized displays of weaponry, portraits of armed soldiers, and illustration of violent conflict
3. Tiryns and Mycenae were huge fortresses of warlords
6. Mycenaeans took their vast wealth to their graves
1. Tombs contained gold vessels and gold masks
7. Mycenaean society hierarchical
1. Ruler
2. Bureaucratic hierarchy
3. Subordinates with some slaves
4. Scribes at center of palace life
8. Mycenaean expansion spread, uniting the dispersed cultures around the Aegean Sea
9. At end of the second millennium B.C.E., large-scale internal and external conflictsended the heyday of microsocieties
1. Violent migrations
2. New social order began to emerge
8. Europe-The Northern Frontier
1. Settled agriculture accepted only gradually
2. Frontier settlements remained sparsely populated
1. Unstable and too weak to instigate or sustain long-distance trade.
3. Used techniques of plant and animal domestication to establish self-sufficient communities, not large-scale, hierarchal societies
4. Two significant changes in the northern frontier zone
1. Domestication of the horse
2. Emergence of wheeled chariots and wagons
3. Both became instruments of war
5. Constant struggle between hunter-gatherers and nomadic horseriders created a strong warrior ethos
1. Male smoking and drinking rituals developed
6. Europe remained a place of war making and small chiefships
9. Early States in the Americas
1. Lack of domesticated animals and beasts of burden limited trade to luxuries and symbolic trade goods
2. Some evidence of early state systems that were confederations of towns
1. Not well integrated like territorial states of Southwest Asia, Indus valley or China
2. Ecological mix meant different types of trading goods in different regions
1. Dried fish along coast
2. Crops such as manioc and chili peppers along rivers of Andes Mountains
3. Wool from llamas and alpacas found in mountains
3. What is known about trade comes from items found in burials
1. Painted gourds, pottery, textiles show contact among societies
2. Marriage could strengthen a pact or confederation
4. Aspero site reveals local community evolution to chiefship with more complex society
5. Cerro Sechin reveals large plaza set for defense
1. Massive stone tablets show warriors, battles, prisoners, and executions
10. Conclusion
1. Second millennium B.C.E. was unprecedented time of migration, warfare, and the building of territorial kingdoms
2. Droughts trigged large-scale migrations across Afro-Eurasia
1. Transhumant herders looked to riverine societies for water and resources
2. Changed the social and political fabric of those communities
3. Horse-riding nomads conquered and settled in the agrarian states, bringing many technological innovations
1. Horse chariots
3. Nomads and transhumant herders exchanged beliefs and customs with those they conquered
4. Long-distance trade by sea and land linked agrarian societies
5. Trade and a need for more central government led to the establishment of territorial states
6. Territorial states used chariot warriors to expand territory
7. Shang dynasty emerged in East Asia without rivals
8. In Pacific, Aegean, Northern Europe, and Americas, smaller microstates but still involved with trade-some long-distance, some local
1. Technology, language, goods, and migrants spread throughout this time

 

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