Chapter Outline
I. Islamic and Hindu kingdoms
A. The quest for centralized imperial rule
1. North India
a. Tension among regional kingdoms(chaotic)
b. Nomadic Turks became absorbed into Indian society(caused
additional disruption as they found niches in caste systems)
2. Harsha (reigned 606-648 C.E.) temporarily restored unified rule in
north India( enjoyed a reputation for piety, liberality, and
even scholarship/ was Buddhist but tolerant/ assassinated it fell)
B. Introduction of Islam to northern India
1. The Sind were conquered by Arab Muslims and passed to Abbasids
caliphates (military introduction of Islam although some of population
remained original religion)
2. Muslim merchants formed small communities in all major cities of
coastal India(became integrated into Indian life/ married Indian
women)
3. Turkish migrants and Islam: Turks convert to Islam in tenth century
a. Some moved to Afghanistan and established an Islamic state
b. Mahmud of Ghazni, Turk leader in Afghanistan, made
expeditions to northern India (annexed several states but cared
more about plundering wealth)
4. The sultanate of Delhi (1206-1526 C.E.)
a. Mahmud's successors conquered north India, 1206
b. Established an Islamic state known as the sultanate of Delhi
c. Sultans' authority did not extend far beyond the capital at Delhi
d. Islam began to have a place in India
C. The Hindu kingdoms of southern India
1. The south: politically divided but relatively peaceful(rulers presided
over small, loosely administrated land/ regional wars sometimes but
less frequent)
2. The Chola kingdom (850-1267 C.E.) was a larger kingdom; ruled
Coromandel coast
a. At its high point, conquered Ceylon and parts of southeast
Asia( financed by the profits of trade)
b. Navy dominated waters from South China Sea to Arabian Sea
c. Not a tightly centralized state; local autonomy was strong
d. Began to decline by the twelfth century
e. Less interest in powerful state then realizing profits that came
from the domination of trade
f. Native Sinhalese forces expelled them/ did not entirely
collapse but reduced
D. The kingdom of Vijayanagar (1336-1565 C.E.)
1. Established by two Indian brothers
2. They renounced Islam in 1336 and returned to their Hindu faith
3. trade, common social structures, and inherited cultural tra-
ditions, a coherent and distinctive society flourished in post-
classical India.
II. Production and trade in the Indian Ocean basin
A. Agriculture in the monsoon world
1. The monsoons (rains in spring and summer)
2. Irrigation systems were needed for dry months
a. No big river in south India; waterworks included dams,
reservoirs, canals, wells
b. Stored rainwater in large reservoirs connected to canals
c. One reservoir constructed during the eleventh century covered
250 square miles
3. Population growth: 53 million in 600 C.E. to 105 million in 1500 C.E.
4. Urbanization took place in Delhi and other large port cities
B. Trade and economic development of southern India
1. Internal trade
a. Self-suaicient in staple food
b. Metals, spices, special crops found only in certain regions
c. Through trade, south India and Ceylon experienced rapid
economic growth
2. Temples and society in south India
a. Hindu temples served as economic and social centers
b. Possessed large tracts of land, hundreds of employees
c. Temple administrators were to maintain order, deliver taxes
d. Served as banks; engaged in business ventures
C. Cross-cultural trade in Indian Ocean basin
1. Dhows and junks--large ships involved in maritime trade in Indian
Ocean
2. Emporia, Indian port cities, were clearinghouses of trade and
cosmopolitan centers
3. Trade goods
a. Silk and porcelain from China
b. Spices from southeast Asia
c. Pepper, gems, pearls, and cotton from India
d. Incense and horses from Arabia and southwest Asia
e. Gold, ivory, and slaves from east Africa
4. Specialized production
a. Production of high-quality cotton textiles thrived
b. Other specialized industries: sugar, leather, stone, carpets,
iron and steel
5. The kingdom of Axum was a Christian empire centered in Ethiopia
a. Resisted pressures of Islam; stayed prosperous through trade
b. Controlled Adulis, most prominent port on Red Sea(invaded
kush)
D. Caste and society: caste provided guidance in absence of centralized
political authority
1. Caste helped to integrate immigrants (Turks, Muslim merchants) into
Indian society
2. Caste and social change: guilds and sub castes (jatis). Merchant
guilds were influencial.
3. Expansion of caste system, especially to southern India
III. The meeting of Hindu and Islamic traditions
A. The development of Hinduism
1. Hinduism predominated in southern India, Islam in the north
2. Vishnu and Shiva
a. Decline of Buddhism benefited Hinduism
b. The growth of Vishnu and Shiva cults (and other gods
associated with them)
3. Devotional cults: to achieve mystic union with gods as a way of
salvation
4. Shankara: philosopher (ninth century) who preferred disciplined
logical reasoning
5. Ramanuja: philosopher (eleventh and twelfth centuries) believed that
understanding of ultimate reality was less important than devotion
B. Islam and its appeal
1. Conversion to Islam occurred in a slow and gradual way
a. Some converted for improving their lower social statuses
b. Often an entire caste or sub caste adopted Islam en masse
c. By 1500, about 25 million Indian Muslims (1/4 of population)
2. Sufis
a. The most eaective missionaries, they had a devotional
approach to Islam
b. Permitted followers to observe old rituals and venerate old
spirits
c. Emphasized piety and devotion
3. The bhakti movement
a. Sought to erase distinction between Hinduism and Islam
b. Guru Kabir (1440-1518), important bhakti teacher, taught that
Shiva, Vishnu, and Allah were one deity
IV. The influence of Indian society in southeast Asia
A. The states of southeast Asia
1. Indian influence in southeast Asia
a. Indian merchants brought their faiths to southeast Asia
b. Ruling elite of southeast Asia adapted some Indian political
traditions
c. The states sponsored Hinduism and Buddhism
d. Showed no interest in Indian caste system
2. Funan (first to sixth century C.E.) in the lower reaches of Mekong River
(Cambodia/Vietnam)
a. Drew enormous wealth by controlling trade
b. Adopted Sanskrit as oaicial language
c. Decline of Funan in sixth century
3. Srivijaya (670-1025 C.E.) was established on Sumatra after the fall of
Funan
a. Maintained sea trade between China and India by navy
b. Chola kingdom of south India eclipsed Srivijaya in the eleventh
century
4. Angkor (889-1431 C.E.)
a. Kingdom built by Khmers at Angkor Thom, later Angkor Wat
b. The city was a microcosmic reflection of Hindu world order
c. Turned to Buddhism during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries
d. Thais invaded the capital in 1431, and Khmers abandoned it
5. Other states: Singosari (1222-1292 C.E.) and Majapahit (1293-1520
C.E.)
B. The arrival of Islam in southeast Asia
1. Conversion to Islam was slow and quiet
a. Ruling elite converted in cities while rural residents retained
their traditions
b. Islam was not an exclusive faith in southeast Asia
c. Sufis appealed to a large public in these countries
2. Melaka was powerful Islamic state during fifteenth century
Chapter Outline
I. States and empires in Mesoamerica and North America
A. The Toltec and the Mexica
1. Toltecs emerge in the ninth and tenth centuries after the collapse of
Teotihuacan
a. Established large state, powerful army mid-tenth to the mid-
twelfth century
b. Tula was the Toltec capital city and center of trade
c. Maintained close relations with societies of the Gulf coast and
the Maya
2. Toltec decline after twelfth century
a. Civil strife at Tula, beginning in 1125
b. Nomadic invaders after 1175
3. Arrival of the Mexica (or Aztecs) in central Mexico mid-thirteenth
century
a. Warriors and raiders
b. Built capital city, Tenochtitlan (modern Mexico City), about
1345
c. Developed productive chinampasstyle of agriculture
4. Fifteenth century, Aztecs launched military campaigns against
neighboring societies
a. Conquered and colonized Oaxaco in southwestern Mexico
b. Made alliance with Texcoco and Tlacopan
c. Built an empire of twelve million people, most of Mesoamerica
5. Controlled subject peoples with oppressive tribute obligations
a. Empire had no bureaucracy or administration; local
administrators enforced tributes
b. Allies did not have standing army
c. Tribute of 489 subject territories flowed into Tenochtitlan
B. Mexica society
1. Most information comes from Spanish sources, recorded after the
conquest
2. Mexica warriors were the elite at the top of a rigid social hierarchy
a. Mostly from the Mexica aristocracy
b. Enjoyed great wealth, honor, and privileges
3. Mexica women had no public role, but were honored as mothers of
warriors
a. Mexica women active in commerce and crafts
b. Primary purpose to bear children: women who died in
childbirth celebrated
4. Priests also among the Mexica elite
a. Read omens, presided over rituals, monitored ritual calendar
b. Advisers to Mexica rulers, occasionally became supreme
rulers
5. Most of the Mexica were either cultivators or slaves
a. Cultivators worked on chinampas(small plots of reclaimed
land) or on aristocrats' land
b. Paid tribute and provided labor service for public works
c. Large number of slaves who worked as domestic servants
6. Artisans and merchants enjoyed prestige
a. Artisans valued for skill work, especially luxury items
b. Trade could be profitable, but also risky
C. Mexica religion
1. Mexica deities adopted from prior Mesoamerican cultures
a. Tezcatlipoca
b. Quetzalcóatl
2. Ritual bloodletting common to all Mesoamericans
a. Human sacrifice to Huitzilopochtli
b. Large temple at the center of Tenochtitlan, thousands of skulls
D. Peoples and societies of the north
1. Pueblo and Navajo: large settled societies in American southwest
a. Agriculture and irrigation
b. By about 700 C.E., began to build stone and adobe buildings
2. Iroquois peoples: an agricultural society in the eastern woodlands
a. Five Iroquois nations emerged from Owasco society, 1400 C.E.
b. Male/female roles
3. Mound-building peoples in eastern North America
a. Built enormous earthen mounds for ceremonies and burials
b. Largest mound at Cahokia, Illinois
c. Fifteen thousand to thirty-eight thousand people lived in
Cahokia society during the twelfth century
d. No written records: burial sites reveal existence of social
classes and trade
II. States and empires in Andean South America
A. The coming of the Incas
1. Kingdom of Chucuito dominated Andean South America after the
twelfth century
a. Cultivation of potatoes; herding of llamas and alpacas
b. Traded with lower valleys; chewed coca leaves
2. Chimu, powerful kingdom in the lowlands of Peru before the mid-
fifteenth century
a. Irrigation networks; cultivation of maize and sweet potatoes
b. Capital city at Chanchan had massive brick buildings
3. The Inca settled first around Lake Titicaca in the Andean highlands
a. Ruler Pachacuti launched campaigns against neighbors, 1438
b. Built a huge empire stretching four thousand kilometers from
north to south
4. Inca ruled as a military and administrative elite
a. Use of quipu for record keeping
b. Capital at Cuzco, which had as many as three hundred
thousand people in the late fifteenth century
c. Extensive road system linked north and south
d. Oaicial runners carried messages; spread of Quecha language
B. Inca society and religion
1. Trade limited
a. Local barter in agricultural goods
b. Fewer specialized crafts
2. Inca society was also a hereditary aristocracy
a. Chief ruler viewed as descended from the sun, owned
everything on earth
b. After death, mummified rulers became intermediaries with
gods
c. Aristocrats enjoyed fine food, embroidered clothes, and wore
ear spools
d. Priests led celibate and ascetic lives, very influential figures
3. Peasants worked the land and gave over a portion of their produce to
the state
a. Besides supporting ruling classes, revenue also used for
famine relief
b. Peasants also provided heavy labor for public works
4. Inca priests served the gods
a. Venerated sun god called Inti
b. Creator god, Viracocha
c. Ritual sacrifices practiced, but not of humans
d. Inca religion had a strong moral dimension: rewards and
punishments
III. The societies of Oceania
A. The nomadic foragers of Australia
1. Nomadic, foraging societies; did not take up agriculture
a. Exchanged surplus food and small items during their seasonal
migrations
b. Peoples on north coast had limited trade with mariners of New
Guinea
2. Aboriginal culture and religious traditions
a. Intense concern with immediate environments
b. Stories and myths related to geographical features
B. The development of Pacific Island society
1. Trade between island groups such as Tonga, Samoa, and Fiji
2. Distant islands more isolated, especially eastern Pacific
3. Polynesian mariners took long voyages
a. Settled Easter Island about 300 C.E.
b. Reached west coast of South America
c. Brought back sweet potato, new staple crop in Polynesia
d. Settled Hawaiian Islands early centuries C.E.; also twelfth- and
thirteenth-century voyages
4. Population growth on all larger Pacific islands
a. Result of diversified farming and fishing
b. Hawaii may have had five hundred thousand people in the late
eighteenth century
c. On Easter Island, conflict and environmental degradation from
overpopulation
5. More complex social and political structures
a. Sandeluer dynasty at Pohnpei in Carolina Islands, 1200-1600
b. Workers became more specialized; distinct classes emerged
c. Social classes: high chiefs, lesser chiefs, priests, commoners
6. Powerful chiefs created centralized states in Tonga and Hawaii
a. Ali'i nui: high chiefs of Hawaii
b. Chiefs allocated lands, organized men into military forces
7. In Polynesian religion, priests were intermediaries between gods and
humans
a. Gods of war and agriculture were common
b. The marae Mahaiatea on Tahiti was a huge step pyramid for
religious rituals
