Unit 2: Era 4 - Expanding and Intensified....

Historians see a number of significant developments in this era: (1) the clustering of human population into large empires, such as the growth of the Chinese, Mongol and Islamic Empires and empires in Africa; (2) the development of trade routes (land and sea) that increased cultural and commercial exchanges in Afro-Eurasia; (3) continued consolidation and spread of major religions; and (4) empire building in the Americas, particularly the rise of the Mayan, Aztec, and Incan empires. During this era the new religion of Islam developed, while Hinduism, Christianity, and Buddhism continued to spread throughout Eurasia and Africa. Due to continuing population growth, urbanization, and the flowering of culture in Eurasia, West Africa, and Mesoamerica, empires grew in size and complexity (such as Roman, Han, Gupta, Maya, Ghana, and Byzantine). It is during this era that we also explore the end of major empires (Han, Western Roman). The rise and fall of empires, as well as the nomadic groups in Afro-Eurasia, generated new zones of cultural and commercial exchange that linked regions across the world. While focusing on large empires and huge states, historians also recognize that no one empire or state dominated the world. Rather, many argue that the world was “polycentric,” or developed around a number of powerful political systems and supported by numerous zones of exchange – places where goods, ideas, and peoples traveled from one part of the world to another. While stressing economic and political changes in cities, historians still recognize that the majority of the world’s population lived in agricultural settings. This era can be characterized by the movement of ideas, people, and goods. During the seven centuries covered in this era major religions – Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, and Buddhism – spread far beyond their lands of origin, and became established in regions where they have remained major religious and cultural forces. Nomadic and migratory groups influenced and sometimes altered political, economic, and social structures in many areas of Afro-Eurasia. By 1400, there were about 350 million people clustered into relatively small pockets of land in Japan, Korea, China, Indonesia, Indochina, India, Dar-al-Islam, Europe, and the Aztec and Inca Americas. While most of the population (about 98%) was tightly tied to agriculture, a number of large commercial cities grew during this time. Most of the largest cities and the world’s wealth were concentrated in China, India, and North Africa. Closely related to the growing urban population was a system of interlinking trading systems in East Asia (linking China to India), Middle East/Mongolian (linking the Eurasian continent to the Eastern Mediterranean and India), and the European system (linking Europe to the Middle East and Indian Ocean). While each of these systems had a dominant group (e.g., Chinese, Arabs, Italians), these overlapping systems of trade created what some historians have called the first world system of exchange. During this era the Mongol Empire spanned most of the Eurasian continent and an almost complete system of empires governed most of the world’s population. The order within empires was maintained by elites living off of peasants. These civilizations were regularly threatened by invaders from the outside and discontent from within. However, it was micro-organisms that caused the ultimate crisis in this system with the outbreak of the Bubonic Plague in the mid-fourteenth century. Historians view this pandemic as significant for a couple of reasons. First, it shows the existence of well-developed systems of trade connecting China, Northern Africa, and Europe. Second, in just a few years, the plague decimated the populations of Afro-Eurasia. Such demographic crisis had a profound impact on the survivors for years to come and resulted in new artistic styles, the persecution of Jews, and an increase in land and wages for surviving peasants. Overall, this era is dominated by shifting political, economic, and social systems. New political and economic policies developed as empires dealt with instability brought by invading groups and disease. By the end of the era, the stage was set for a growing middle class in Europe, a powerful aristocracy in most regions (that challenged or was challenged by changing political structures), and a more powerful merchant class. These groups would act as catalysts for the development of the modern age.

How and to what effect did networks of exchange transform human societies?