Chapter 6

Commonalities and Variations: Africa, the Americas, and Pacific Oceania

Continental Comparisons

• Basic similarities in development of human cultures everywhere
• Human migration
• Resulting in civilizations
• Important differences between civilizations in different regions
• Americas lacked animals for domestication
• Africa imported animals
• Writing was limited in Americas to Mesoamerica
• Fewer civilizations in Americas and Africa

Civilizations of Africa

• No common cultural identity in premodern era
• Great environmental variation
• Huge continent
• Most tropical super continent
• Nile Valley Civilization
• Ruled by all powerful monarch 
• Long distance trade source of wealth and military power

Mesoamerica

• Lack of interaction with other major cultures (including Americas)
• Rugged mountain terrain gave rise to micro-climates
• Extraordinary diversity of mesoamerican societies
• Maya: Writing and Warfare
• Mayan ceremonial centers
• Well known achievements
• Advanced mathematical system
• Elaborate calendars
• Most elaborate writing system in Americas
• Architecture 
• Maya economy
• Agriculture had large scale human engineering 
• City state political systems
• Frequent warfare
• Densely populated urban centers
• Rapid collapse after long term drought
• Teotihuacan: Americas' greatest city 
• Much is unknown
• City planned on a gridline pattern
• Little evidence of rulers 
• Deep influence on Mesoamerica
• Mysterious collapse
• Aztecs-"city of the gods"

Civilizations of the Andes

• Rich marine environment possessed endless supply of seabird and fish
• Most well known civilization was Incas
• Central Peruvian coast was home
• Moche: Civilization of the coast
• Flourished along 250 miles of Peru's north coast
• Agriculture based on complex irrigation system
• Relied on fishing
• Ruled by warrior-priests
• Wari and Tiwanaku: Empires of the Interior

Alternatives to Civilization

• Bantu Africa: Cultural variation
• Spread over Africa
• Wasn't a conquest
• Significant interaction 
• Advantages
• Numbers
• Diseases
• Iron
• Culture changed because of interactions with different people
• North America
• Village based societies
• Pit houses and great houses
• Establishment of permanent villages 
• Local trading networks
• Development of larger settlements
• Chaco
• Pacific Oceania
• Environmental impact of human life
• Diverse threats to Hawaii
• Pan-pacific similarities
• Religious 
• Had trade networks

I truly enjoyed reading about all the civilizations in this chapter.  I love diversity and think its a beautiful thing that so many of these civilizations co-existed and that the United States today is represented by so many of these cultures.

Chapter 5

Society and Inequality in Eurasia/North Africa

Society and the State in China

• Was more shaped by state actions than other societies
• Power came with being a state official
• Elite of Officials
• Extremely hard written examinations to select officials
• Wealthy favored (educated sons)
• Commoners could rise via education
• Landlord Class
• Small scale peasant farmers replaced by large landowners and tenant farmers
• State tried to oppose creation of large estates (not much success) 
• Peasants
• Most population in Chinese history have been peasants
• Periodic peasant rebellions
• Often expressed in religious terms
• Merchants 
• Elite disliked merchants
• Stereotyped as greedy and profiting from work of others
• Merchants often prospered anyways
• Won way to being respected by purchasing estates and educating sons

Class and Caste in India

• Caste as Varna
• Grew from interactions of culturally diverse people and development of social and economic differences between them
• Varna Theory
• Four groups formed and untouchables 
• Caste as Jati
• Social distinction based on occupations
• Blended with varna
• Clearly defined social position
• Marriage and eating could only be done with people in your Jati
• Couldn't raise social status but whole Jatis could improve social standing
• Caste functions
• Provided social security
• Made it easier for wealthy and powerful to exploit poor

Slavery and Roman Empire

• Why slavery emerged in civilizations 
• Domestication of animals provided model for human slavery
• War, patriarchy
• Patriarchal "ownership" of women
• Slavery in civilization
• Slavery=social death
• Almost all civilization had some form of slavery that varied over time
• Less common in China (convicts)
• Roman Slavery
• SLave society
• 1/3 population 
• Modest means often owned 2-3 slaves
• How people became slaves
• War prisoners
• Piracy
• Long distance trade
• Natural reproduction
• Abandoned/exposed 
• Resistance and rebellion
• Mass suicide of war prisoners
• Flights
• Occasional murder of owners
• Comparing Patriarchies
• Patriarchy generally less restrictive in the early years 
• Women active agents in histories

My reflection for this chapter could go on and on, I simply could not believe what I was reading and the fact that such horrible inequalities were happening and people really did nothing to deserve the treatment they received.  As a latina woman with hearing loss, I have faced many inequalities myself, from struggling with people refusing to be accommodating, to people believing that I would never be successful because of my background.  I am grateful that I have had the opportunity to prove those people wrong and to make my own way, and I genuinely feel for the people in this time period who had little to no chance of ever being treated like an equal.

Chapter 4

China and the Search for Order

• Mandate of Heaven
• Legalist answer
• Principle of strict rules that were clearly defined and strictly enforced
• Pessimistic view of human nature 
• Confucian Answer
• Confucius's principles
• Ideas had huge impact on China
• Body of thought
• Humans have capacity for improvement 
• Emphasized importance of history 
• Nonreligious 
• Daoist Answer 
• Associated with Laozi
• Opposite of Confucianism in many ways
• Education and striving for improvement was artificial and useless
• Way of nature, connect with nature

Cultural Traditions of Classical India

• Indian cultural development was different 
• Elites enthusiastic about divine and spiritual matters
• Hinduism-no founding father
• Spread into Southeast Asia but remained mainly associated with Indians 
• South Asian Religion
• Widely recognized sacred texts provided some common ground with Indian culture 
• The Vedas
• Samsara reincarnation 
• Buddhist Challenge 
• Developed with Hinduism 
• Central Buddhist teaching-life is suffering 
• Large elements of Hinduism present in Buddhist teaching
• Challenged Hinduism
• Hinduism as a Religion of Duty and Devotion
• Development of more popular Hinduism

Cultural Tradition of Classical Greece: Search for a Rational Order

• Didn't create enduring religious tradition
• Polytheism
• Greek way of knowing
• Flourished
• Socrates and other philosophers
• Aristotle 
• Greek Legacy 
• Continued traditional beliefs and practices 
• Rationalism spread widely 

Birth of Christianity vs Buddhism

• Founders
• Royal vs lower-class
• Spiritual seekers
• Wisdom teachers
• Jesus Jewish tradition, active for about three years, executed as criminal
• Gautama was active for over 40 years, died of old age
• Spread of new religions
• Didn't intend to create new religion
• Both transformed into gods 

It is amazing that the religions in this chapter are still heavily practiced today, with much of the same values that were practiced during that time.  It is comforting that things have been passed down for such a long time and that the basic morals that people followed and still follow are consistent, making me see the good and potential that we have.

Chapter 3

Empires and Civilizations in Collision: The Persians and the Greeks

• Civilizations didn't contact each other directly
• Greece/Persia exception because they were neighbors
• Persia
• Largest most impressive empire
• Diverse empire, large population
• Effective admin system
• Underground irrigation
• Greeks
• Population around 2-3 million
• Mountains and valleys encouraged hundreds of city states 
• A lot of participation in political life
• Collision: Greco-Persian Wars
• Ionia, Ionian Greeks revolted against Persia
• Greece won on both land and sea
• Collision: Alexander and Hellenistic Era
• Conquest of Greece
• Alexander expedition of Persia 
• Defeated Persia
• Greek becomes language of power
• Roman rule replaces Greek rule

Comparing Empires: Roman and Chinese

• Roman and Chinese had little direct contact
• Flourished 
• Similar in size
• Controlled nearly half of worlds population
• Rome
• Grew after each conquest
• Rise of empire changed Roman society 
• Pax Romana (Roman peace)
• Still best known empire
• China
• Warring states to empires
• Creation of empire regarded as restoration
• Unification by Shihuangdi 
• Ruler of Qin 
• 1st emperor
• Formed much quicker than Rome
• Depended on military force among other security
• Great Wall
• Military
• Brutality
• Burning books, execution of scholars
• Similarities
• Defined themselves in universal terms
• Invested in public works
• Claimed supernatural sanctions
• Foreign religious tradition
• Effected the environment 
• Fall
• Too large
• Too expensive
• Tax evasion
• Fell heavily on the poor
• Diseases
• Threat from Nomadic people

I find it interesting that two of the world's largest empires are still known and visited countries today.  The backbone of China and Rome formed such a long time ago and they are still living off of some of those backbones today.  It is also hard to imagine how tough life must have been living in the early empires, where there was extreme brutality and there was a constant fear of being invaded and overthrown.  Often time, one person or group was in all the power and the poor and lower classes just had to fall into that based on what they were born into.  That must have been tough and its interesting that that is still the way things work today.  Today, I am grateful that there are much more opportunities to move up in society if one desires.