Islam spread throughout the Arabian Peninsula and beyond. The tenets of Tslam came to be officially practiced and in Muslim culture, similar to the way tenets of Christianity were practiced in the Roman and Byzantine Empires. The lands where Islam was practiced were known as "Dar al Islam" or House of Islam.
As time went on, the caliphs began to behave more like hereditary ruler, like those in monarchy , except that there was no clear line of succession. The lack of a clear succession caused a great deal of trouble along the road. The first four caliphs were Abu Balar, Umar, Uthman, and Ali. The last of the four, Ali, was assassinated and was succeeded by his son, Hasan. But under pressure from a prominent family in Mecca, Hasan relinqueshed his title, making way for the establishment of the Umayyad Dynasty. This dynasty would enlarge the Islamic Empire dramatically, but it would also intensify conflict with the Byzantineand Persian Empires for a century.
As the Shia began to assert themselves more dramatically, the Umayyad Dynasty went into decline, and ultimate demise. In a battle for control of the empire against the forces of Aby al-Abbas, the Umayyad Empire was defeated (punctuated by the slaughter of sine nenber of the family). It was replaced by the Abbasid Dynasty around 750 in all the areas except Spain.
The Abbasid Dynasty reigned from 750 to 1258, that is,until the Islamic Empire was defeated by the Mongols. Throughout this time, like all major empires, the Abbasids had many ups and downs, but they oversaw a golden age, from the early mid-ninth century, during which the arts and sciences flourished. The Abbasids built a magnificent captial at Baghdad, which became one of the great cultural centers of the world.
It would be the Islamic Caliphates most distant enemy, the Mongils, who would defeat the,. During the crusades, in 1258, the Mongols overran the Islamic Empire and destroyed Baghdad, thereby signaling the end of the Abbasid Dysnasty. Its people would flee to Egypt, where they remained intact but powerless. Eventually, the Ottoman Turks would reunite Egypt, Syria, and Arabia in a new Islamic state, which would last until 1918.
The histoy of the Roman Empire reads a lot like a bad soap opera. Recall from Chapter 6 that the Roman Empire united the entire Mediterranean for centuries. But it became too unwieldy to govern as a whole, so in 286 C.E., the empire was split into an eastern half and a western half, in what were hoped to be more manageable administrative regions. Then, in 313, Christianity was accepted in the empire; in 330, then Constantine converted to Christianity, he reunited the empire at Constantinpole. It was still the Roman Empire, it just wasn't centered in Rome. The empire split again in 395, at which time the eastern hald became known as the Byzantine Empire. Almost 400 years later, in 8000, yet another empire was established, the Holy Roman Empire centered in Rome. The Byzantines continued on as before in the east. So again there were two empires, but still one religion. That, however, was to change as well some too hundred years later when, in 1054, Christianity began to be practiced as two entirely seperate religions: Roman Catholicism and Chritian Orthodoxy.
The Franks were a Germanic tribe that united under the leadership of King Clovis in the late fifth century. He built a rather large empire that stretched from present-day Germany through Belgium and into France. He converted to Roman Catholicism and established his capital in Paris. After he died, his empire was divided among his sons, after which it declined in influence.
The empire Charlemagne built would come to be the Holy Roman Empire upon the coronation of Otto the Great in 962. It's important to point out that this empire had little in common with the original Roman Empire, other than the fact that power once again centralized and Rome began to think itself again as a world center. The size of the Roman Empire, in comparison to its namesake, was relatively small. It included northern Italy, Germany, Belgium, and France. Nevertheless, it maked the beginning of western European ambition in terms of empire-building, especially among those in the church.
During 843, western Europe continued to be attacked by powerful invaders, notably the Vikings from Scandinavia and the Magyans from Hungary. Although the Vikings were not onlt raiders, they were perhaps the most successful. Beginning around 800, they used their highly maneuverable, multi-oared boats to raid well beyond their borders - on the open seas, up and down theNorth Atlantic coast, and along the inland rivers.
In western Europe after the fall of the Roman Empire, the practice of feudalism caused life to be centered on small, self-sustaining communities that didn't initially generate much of a surplus. But as they subsequently built up storehouses of food and supplies, and as people came into greater contact with each other, they were freed to pursue other endeavors. As a result, we begin to see the emergence of craftspeople, individuals skilled in highly specalized ways. Towns and cities, too, began to grow, and, eventually, the Middle Ages came to an end.
Late in the thirteenth century, Thomas Aquinas, a famous Christian realist of this period, made significant inroads in altering Christian thought. He wrote Summa Theologica, which outlined his view that faith and reason are not in conflict, but that both are gifts from God and each can be used to enchance the other. His writings had a major impact on Christian thought, although thr Church remained a strict guardian of its own interpritations.
Referred to as the Black Death, this epidemic originated in China where it killed an estimated 35 million people. It spread rapidly though Europe in the mid-fourteenth century. Its transmission was facilitated by new forms of commerce and trade, including Mongol control of central Asian Silk Routes, that increased the interaction between Europe and Asia. First occuring in the 1330s, the epidemic spread westward with traders and merchants, and arrived in Itialian port cities as early as 1347. Crowded conditions in Europes's cities and the lack of adequate sanitation and medical knowledge all contributed to its rapid spread. Within 50 years, a third of Europe's population was dead, traditional fuedal hierarchies were obsolete, repligious hatred intensified, and people lost faith in the power of the Church. The dramtic changes brought by the epidemic sped up social and economic movements that were already impacting Europe. These included a shift toward a commercial economy , more individual freedoms, and development of new industries.
Keep in mind that during the Middle Ages, western Europe wasn't organized into countries; rather it was broken up into feudal kingdoms. But by the close of the Middle Ages, western Europe began to organize along cultural and linguistic lines. People who spoke French aligned themselves with France. Those who spoke English united under the banner of England.
Recall that eastern Europe and Russia at this time were very different from the west. The Eastern Orthodox Christians of this area spen much time and effort defending themselves from the colonization of various western invaders. It wasn't until 1242 that Russia succumbed to the Tatars under Genghis Khan. The Tatars ruled a large chunk of Russia for two centuries, leading to a cultural rift that further split easter and western Europe.
The T'ang Dynasty ruled China beginning in 618 C.E. Under Emperor Xuanzong , the T'ang expanded Chinese territory into parts of Manchuria, Mongolia, Tibet, and Korea. By 907. however, the empire had become so large that local warlords gained more and more power, and the T'ang Dynasty collasped. In 960, after a brief era of restlessness, China was reunified under the Song Dynasty and Emperor Taizu. Despite a long period of peace and prosperity, the Song eventually fell to the Jurchen and then the Mongols until finall in 1279, the Mongols established the Yuan Dynasty in its place. That dynasty didn't last long. The Mongols were driven out of China, and in 1368 the Ming Dynasty restored traditional Chinese rule to the empire.
Even though China influenced Japan enormously, it didn't penetrate Japanee identity. Birth eas more important than outside influence or education. The aristocracy remained strong. Despite the widespread influence of Confucianism and Chan (now Zen) Buddism, Japanese continued to observe the rites of their indigenous religion, Shinto. Even at the height of T'ang influence, it can be said that Japan drew inspiration from China, but maintained its own distinctive traditions.
Korea had its own independant and powerful dynasty, but in order to mainatin the appearance of cordial reltions with they powerful Chinese neighbors, the Koreans became a vassal-state of the T'ang. The gift-giving and exchanges resulted in Korean schools and the imperial court being prevented the development of both Confucianism and Chan Buddism to Korea.
Genghis Khan unified several nomadic tribes of Mongolia and led the Mongol invasion of China in 1234, which was the begnning of the enormous Mongolian conguests. The Mongol Empire eventually spanned from the Pacific Ocean to eastern Europe. The empire was split into hordes, or small, independant empires. The Golden Horde conquered the region of modern-day Russia. In CHina, Kublai Khan ruled. Mongols destroyed cities and were ruthless warriors, but once their doman was established, the empire was relatively peaceful, sometime called the Pax Mongolica. The continuous empire allowed for the exchange of goods, ideas, and culture from one distant region to another. Mongols, who were illiterate, nomadic people prior to their conquests and education reforms brought about by Genghis Khan, eventually became assimilated into cultures of the people they defeated.
The kush and Axum civilizations developed to the south of Egypt in the upper reaches of the Nile River. Kush developed at about the same time as ancient Egypt, and at one point around 750 B.C.E. actually conquered it. Less than a hundred years later, however, Kush retreated southward back to its capital at Meroe, where it became a center for ironworks and trade.
The decline of the Maya remains a source of debate. They began to abandon their cities aorund 800 C.E. Enviromental degration and overuse of land, political dissension and social unrest, natural disaster, and outside invaders have all been proposed as causes of their decline.
The Aztecs, also known as the Mexica, arrived in central MExico in the min-1200s and built their capital at Tenochtitlan (modern=day Mexico City). More than anything else, the Aztecs are known for their expansionist policy and professional army, which allowed them to dominate nearby states and demand heavy taxes and captives. Warriors were the elite in the aztec social stucture (the majority of people were peasants and slaves). Through conquest and alliances, the Aztecs built an empire od some twelve million people. But depsite the huge size, they didn't use a bureaucratic form of government. The conquered areas were generally allowed to govern themselves, as long as they paid tribute demanded of them. Roads were built to link far-flung areas of the huge empire, and trade flourished.
The Inca Empire, set in the Andes Mountains in Peru, was also expansionist in nature. At its zenith, it is thought to have controlled more then 2000 miles of South American coastline. The Incas controlled this territory using a professional army, an established bureaucracy, a unified language, and a complex system of roads and tunnels.
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